My Name is Harry Potter
by megamatt09
Summary: Harry Potter runs afoul of a conspiracy that puts him on the wrong side of the veil. For Harry Potter though, death is merely a temporary rest stop. AU, Arrow/Flash/Supergirl/Harry Potter Crossover. Harry/Multi, but naturally you already knew that.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: The Final Curtain.**

* * *

At age twenty one, Harry Potter was one of the newest Aurors at the Ministry of Magic. He clashed with the upper management at the Ministry of Magic regularly, but they couldn't argue with his results. He was said to be the best Auror to come down the pike in the Ministry in some time.

Given some of the recruits over the past five or so years, Harry wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to consider that a compliment.

The war was over, Voldemort perished. Both sides lost a lot of bodies on each side. Friends, enemies, strangers, they all died because this war.

The war was not over; the rise of Voldemort was just one battle to a larger war. The blood purity movement splintered into several factions. There was a group that wished to preserve what was left of the old families by letting it be. On the opposite end of the equation, there was a group of purebloods that wished to pick up where Voldemort left off.

There were two of his top Death Eaters who had picked up the fight, the Lestrange Brothers. That made sense given that they had been among the most fanatical of Voldemort's followers during his temporary sabbatical and how they drove the Longbottoms into a vegetative state with the Cruciatias curse.

The word out on the street was that the Lestranges decided to get in touch with some mercenaries from the other side of the world. Three days ago, a team of Aurors investigated the lead. Each day passed, without any word of the Aurors returning.

That was when they sent Harry in. The plan would be to extract the Aurors if they were imprisoned, hopefully alive. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement hemmed and hawed about the entire plan, but they decided that the best would be to send Harry in.

Harry was undecided whether that some hoped for him to get killed, or if they really did have the utmost of confidence in his abilities. He figured that it could be some combination of the both.

The rundown shack was in the middle of the wilderness and it was a bit of a trek. The cold winter air repelled off of Harry. The charms on his cloak still held nicely, which was well. He would need to break them if he used offensive magic. That would cause problems with his comfort level.

Harry didn't become an Auror to be comfortable.

' _So far, nothing,'_ Harry thought.

If this was where the Lestranges were holed up, it was a hell of a place for them to lead the resistance. They were out in the middle of nowhere. It made how Harry spent his second year seem extremely civil indeed.

The door creaked open. Harry half expected wands would be blazing the second he opened the door. So far there was nothing.

Harry saw enough Muggle movies when the Dursleys thought that he wasn't looking to know that he shouldn't say that things were too quiet. That would lead to problems.

He entered and his observation skills found the burning embers of a fire. The fire was lit several days ago and was almost burned out.

Harry placed his ear to the basement. A hissing sound caught his attention. That seldom was good news.

He cracked open the basement door and it swung forward. A rickety set of stairs greeted Harry. He waved his hand against the stairs. They hissed and glowed red.

Each step was cursed with each curse on each individual step being different.

"They must not want me to go down into that basement," Harry murmured. He levitated himself off of the ground and glided above the pull of the spells.

The hyper gravity field around him disoriented the young wizard. It stopped when he passed the spells.

The basement looked in disarray, books and broken pieces of pottery were on the floor. Tin cans of food rested on the ground.

Something stirred. Harry's tensions rose and then he relaxed. Only slightly, merely a rat, who was scourging for food and seemed very disgusted that he came up empty.

Harry walked across the room and saw a part of the basement that was kept up very nicely. There was a book shelf full with several raggedy and dusty books.

He reached forward and picked up one of the books. Harry cast a charm on the book. There were no curses, hexes, jinxes, or any kind of magic that would indicate trouble. It looked to be a perfectly normal book.

Other than the fact that there was absolutely nothing inside, that was. Not one word was written in the book.

Harry shifted the shelf off to the side. He spotted Ancient Runes carved into the wall. They looked recent and he saw traces of dried up blood on them.

Whose blood raised some questions in Harry's mind, but that didn't matter.

"This house isn't a safe house, it's an entry point," Harry narrated to himself. He pressed his hand on the Rune.

He felt a spark of magic touch his hand. This didn't give him many answers. It just raised even more unsettling questions as far as Harry was concerned.

Now, Harry remembered one of the primary points in Auror training. Never open up a portal unless you had a good idea exactly where it was taking you.

It was sound advice, in most circumstances. In these circumstances, every second Harry delayed, put innocent lives in danger.

Plus, curiosity was not a virtue that left Harry Potter even after his time at Hogwarts. It got him into more trouble than he cared to remember.

At the same time, his curiosity led him into a better position than ever before sometimes. It was a fifty-fifty shot.

He also remembered the second point he learned in Auror training. There might have been a lot of fluff, but the instructors did make some good points. Even though Harry's best skills came from his independent studies and his extracurricular activities.

' _Never let the enemies dictate the circumstances of your meeting.'_

Those were words Harry intended to live by, but there was a catch. Circumstances could be shifted to screw over the enemy.

He began tracing the Runes, down to the last miniscule detail. He would get to where this house lead.

* * *

Rodolphus Lestrange hated the fact that he had been considered nothing, but Bellatrix's husband, and he vowed to do all that he could to correct that assumption.

"I'm surprised the Ministry hasn't sent anyone to investigate their Aurors getting captured," one of his fellow resistance members commented.

Lestrange snorted. The Ministry couldn't catch sickness in the middle of the dark ages. The Ministry was more interested increasing their own public relations and making nice after the fall of the Dark Lord.

"Our friend should be arriving soon," Rodolphus said. He narrowly stepped around the question. "You're going to make yourselves presentable for him."

He slipped a ring on his finger. It was a family heirloom, and it was supposed to protect him from danger. The oldest Lestrange brother was well aware of the hefty price tag on his head for anyone who brought him into the Ministry.

A lot of the old crowd showed their colors once more when the Dark Lord fell. Lucius Malfoy was quick to endorse Harry Potter as the savior of the world. Granted, Potter regarded Malfoy's attempts to buddy up to him with either amusement or cold indifference, so Lucius was still under close watch from the Ministry and one slip up would put him in Azkaban. Still, the man was a traitor and a snake, and Rodolphus vowed once the balance of power shifted, to put Lucius down where he belonged, along with his brat of a son.

"Rodolphus….."

"Don't call me Rodolphus any more, call me, My Lord or Master," the eldest Lestrange brother replied sharply.

"Fine…Master," one of his associates said. It was obvious that he distasted what he was saying. "I don't see why we haven't killed the Aurors. What if one of them escapes? They have seen this place."

Rodolphus held up his wand and the man felt his throat clench. He doubled over. "Do you doubt my ability, Yaxley? You were loyal to the Dark Lord's cause….in your own fashion. But don't think that will allow you an unlimited license to question my decisions."

Yaxley nodded and felt the grip around his throat loosened. He wondered where Rodolphus's set of balls was when his wife was around. He most certainly didn't have them then.

"To answer your question," Lestrange said. He paused. "Rest assure, I have my reasons to keep the Aurors alive."

"Yes, my Lord," Yaxley said. "I will await your command with the others."

"See that you do," Lestrange said.

Yaxley slunk off to the shadows. Weasel like minion he was, Lestrange didn't have many options. There were many cowards that would pretend to support Harry Potter.

Lestrange swept his way through the long hallowed hallways. The perception of power allowed you to accomplish much. That was why many feared Harry Potter. Lestrange was one of the few that didn't, believing him to be nothing, but smoke and mirrors.

His brother waited for him at the end. Rodolphus smiled at Rabastan. "I do hope that you understand what you're going to sacrifice."

"To save our world, I understand and embrace it, my Lord," Rabastan said. He got down on one knee. "Anything that you need of me, I will do so."

They arrived. Several figures filed in and stepped on either side. A tall and imposing figure dressed in elegant robes, with a hood pulled over his face approached him. He spoke with a refined accent. "Rodolphus Lestrange, you have fulfilled your end of your bargain."

"I have, Mr. Damon," Rodolphus agreed. The enigmatic man and his supporters stared for him. "The sacrifices will be presented to you. All of them of them Mud…first generational magical users. But why?"

"By your own words their magic is stolen," Damon said. "They are guilty of a theft. They would be perfect to be sacrificed, and they will lead the way for your reward. Our organization must have a Dark Lord in Europe for the balance of power to be restored. Otherwise the veil which allows our business to thrive will vanish."

Rodolphus understood. He cherished the power.

The portal was opened somewhere. Rodolphus was alerted of it right away.

"My Lord, the Ministry has sent Aurors."

"How did they find this place?" Rodolphus asked. He thought that he covered his tracks.

There was a loud scream and several of his followers were down. He was made to be rather foolish in front of Mr. Damon and that was not something that he would allow to occur.

Rodolphus walked down the hallway, his wand lifted. The guard at the end of the hallway met him. His mouth hung open and was about to yell for him.

Something twisted his neck like a butterbeer cap. He hit the ground, unmoving.

"Come out," Rodolphus said. He fired a spell into the shadows. It intended to slice the organs of anyone that it hit to ribbons.

His brother joined him at his shoulder. Mr. Damon and his followers hung back. "How many of them are there?"

"Just one," Harry Potter said. He turned up and faced off against both of the Lestrange Brothers. Public Enemy Number One and Two as far as the Ministry of Magic was concerned.

"Potter, I was hoping that you would come here," Rodolphus said.

"Oh, Roddy, did you grow a set of balls?" Harry asked. "I was under the assumption Bella sliced those off years ago."

Angered at the mention of his wife, the eldest Lestrange Brother fired a deadly curse at Harry. He deflected it back at him with a crack whip, and it caught him in the chest, almost slicing him in half from the spell being repelled back at him.

Harry watched him fall to the ground, his organs obliterated from his own curse. The younger Lestrange brother's eyes widened and he was about to bellow that Harry killed his brother.

Only he got banished hard against the wall. Several bones cracked when he connected against the wall extremely hard.

Harry turned around and the remaining followers looked at him, eyes widened. They didn't know whether to attack him or run.

It was a comical scene, when half of them took each other out, and Harry took the other half of them out.

There was a loud and slow clapping. Harry turned around and saw a mysterious cloaked individual looking back at him.

Harry raised his wand and the man didn't even blink. "And I hoped that you would bring your other wand."

He didn't relax his arm.

"Don't you want to know who I am?" he asked. The question was responded by Harry sending a jagged silver light through the air, but the man blocked it, with precision. "You've improved. I'll give you that. You aren't Dumbledore's drone any more. But, the world is full of drones. Only a small percentage of the population is…."

Harry tried to nail him while he was in the middle of a monologue. That was the third lesson he learned in Auror training. Always trick the enemy into delivering a monologue because that was the best time to blast him.

"I've stood toe to toe with deadlier men then you could ever hope, hundreds of years, I've seen civilizations rise and civilizations crumble," the man continued. He flung something from his hand.

It looked to be a glowing orb. Harry blocked it seconds before it hit his chest. It burned through his shield, but Harry teleported behind the enemy.

"And yet, people make the same mistakes," he continued. "The world is full of drones and….."

Harry launched him off of the ground and caused him to land down.

"Any prison that you put me in will be dust before I am," the man in the hooded robe said. His hood remained up, obscuring his facial features. "And any death you give me is only a temporary rest stop."

"Death is the only certainty," Harry replied. Granted, he wasn't too certain.

"But, yet, you returned from it," the man said. He rose to his feet; his robes protected him from the worst Harry did to him. "They say no magic can reverse the dead. But until the body is completely cold, is it truly dead? They say the soul doesn't leave until the body is completely cold."

The robed figure grabbed one of his drones and absorbed energy from him. A shield formed around him preventing Harry from attacking him no matter how hard he tried. The drone fell to the ground and withered from what he did to him.

"And now my body warms," the robed figure said. "We will meet again."

He broke through Harry's anti-teleportation fields. Harry could feel the magic blow back through his body and burn his hands severely.

Harry heard the muffled voices. The captured Aurors were below and Harry needed to get them out of there.

* * *

Back the Ministry of Magic, Harry filled out a mountain of paperwork. There was an inquiry filed about the death of Lestrange Brothers and who they were talking to. Harry had been down to the Wizengamot at least three times today to give his detailed testimony.

Whether or not they believed him, that was another matter entirely. Regardless Harry gave his testimony.

He tried to research the robes worn by the robed man and his drones. Perhaps he could find a clue. They looked to be relatively new players on the scene, or perhaps old players that were long forgotten. If what their leader said was true.

Harry almost longed for the simpler days of Hogwarts. At least trouble only visited him roughly every single June. It visited him more often during his career as an Auror.

Most of the Auror office decided to take an early holiday. It was getting extremely close to Christmas after all. They really didn't take this seriously at all. The official word the Ministry was giving that everything was just fine.

Harry hated to be the office Grinch, but he had a case to work on and he was determined to solve it. The official Ministry records didn't seem to yield any results, but perhaps the unofficial Ministry records might.

Strictly speaking, The Aurors were not supposed to venture into the Department of Mysteries to work on a case. It was not by the book, and was strongly frowned upon. Harry was already in a sufficient amount of hot water because he didn't bring the Lestrange Brothers back alive.

Harry was kind of amused how Rodolphus was setting himself up to be some big bad destroyer of worlds and he wiped him out in approximately five seconds.

So naturally, he wasn't too fussed about upsetting any apple carts. Harry was already on probation. What were they going to do, fire him? He would have to ease his pain with his piles of Galleons and the many women who were willing to throw their panties at him if he just said the word or even gave him a wink.

Harry entered the lift and made his way down into the Department of Mysteries. It had changed a little bit since his trip there during his fifth year, the fiasco that was.

"You know, you're not supposed to down here?"

A soft and quiet voice spoke to Harry. He turned around and saw one of his fellow year mates from Hogwarts starting back at him. A dark haired Asian girl watched him with a frown. She wore elegant black robes with silver trim that fit around her body.

"Hi, Su Li," Harry told her.

"Hello, Harry," she commented. "So, the DMLE giving you the cold shoulder yet again?"

"I killed some Death Eaters," Harry said. Su Li raised an eyebrow. "The Lestrange brothers."

"And I'm certain that the reward got lost in the post," she said.

"Perhaps," Harry replied. "I need to look up some information."

"Help yourself, but remember you never saw me," Su Li said. She stepped to the side and smiled.

Harry was a young man who was of great power and potential, who honestly squandered it by working at the Ministry. She knew that the entire Auror thing was just a hobby to kill time, and many agreed. The DMLE might bitch while he was here, but they would be sad if he ever should move onto other endeavors.

This wasn't Harry's first time searching the unofficial Ministry archives to help him with information with a curse.

"Search, yellow robes, black trim, broken triangle on them," Harry said. He really wished that he was better with giving a description.

"Searching, one match found," the system answered.

"Curious," Harry muttered.

"The Colony, an organization who among its many aims wish to preserve the veil of secrecy between the magical and mundane world in an attempt to profit from both," it told him. "It is also known in many circles in the world, as HIVE."

"Oh, Potter, why do you have to learn things that you weren't meant to know?"

Harry turned around and saw several robed figures standing in front of him. Blocking his way from the exit and they were led by Blaise Zabini.

"Mr. Damon warned me that you would be looking around here, trying to find out about our little operation," Zabini said. "It's a wonder you haven't learned his proper name….but to be fair, none of us know that. But, I'm certain that you're capable of finding that out."

Harry held his wand in the air, but two of the robed figures dragged a half conscious women towards them.

"Oh, and did I mention that we have your wife, Potter?" Blaise asked. Harry saw Ginny look up at him with pleading eyes. He didn't blame her for this one. "I'll give her the antidote for the poison, if you surrender your wand to me."

Harry slid the wand out of his hand and dropped it to the ground. He was hit with several blasting spells and dropped to the ground.

"Typical, Potter, always a hero," Zabini said in disgust. "For the record, Potter, Lestrange was supposed to be the patsy, I was pulling the strings."

X-X-X

Harry woke up some time later. He was on his knees, in anti-magical restraints. The smug face of Blaise Zabini was staring back at him.

"Well, Potter, I wanted you awake to see this," Zabini answered. "I'm afraid that this is the last time you try and play the hero. You've gotten too good to play our game. You've outgrown the position."

"So, I see that Mummy taught you a lot about murder," Harry said. He laughed.

"My mother taught me a lot," Zabini admitted. "She intended to kill me upon my 18th, but I turned the tables on her."

"Good for you, Zabini," Harry said.

"You recognize this room, don't you, Potter?" Zabini asked. He gestured to the veil that was behind Harry. "Remember your precious godfather having an accident here?"

"Yes, I recall it," Harry said. He could see Ginny still secured, this time against a pillar. "You have me. Let Ginny go."

"Yes, I do, and it's delicious, absolutely delicious," Zabini cackled.

"And you're getting into this bad guy thing a bit too much," Harry replied.

"If Hogwarts bothered to teach a proper History of Magic course, you would learn that this veil was used to take care of prisoners before the Ministry struck a deal with the Dementors," Zabini said. "The DMLE kept it as a prize. Black was the first to go through it in some time. If the Ministry had brains, they would have utilized it more often, but….well I'm sure both of us can see the logical fallacy of that."

Zabin looked at him.

"You know, Zabini, keep talking, and you might succeed in killing me," Harry said. "You know, by boring me to death."

"Wit, it almost amuses me, Potter," Zabini said. He leaned down to get in Harry's face.

Harry responded by headbutting him in the face; despite he was secured by magical restraints. That caused Blaise to howl in horror because if there was one thing he hated, he hated getting hit in the face.

Despite his arms were secured, Harry got to his feet. He dodged and kicked his way through the robed attackers he fought. He knocked them down onto the ground.

One of them caught him with a blast to the back of the legs. Harry felt like his knees had been reduced to jelly.

Zabini tried to fix his nose. He conjured a mirror and tried to fix the damage that Potter delivered to his precious face by cheap shotting him like a Muggle street hooligan. "You'll pay for that, Potter!"

His men held Potter and Zabini placed his foot on his chest.

"Goodbye Potter, but don't worry, a new hero will rise up in your place," Zabini said.

He kicked Harry through the veil. Time stood still when he fell through to his apparent and immediate doom.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: The Endless Void.**

* * *

Triumph spread over the face of Blaise Zabini. He knew that he had been handpicked for greatness since birth, but this was proof that he was. He accomplished something that half blood mongrel or any of his wretched followers never did. He personally brought down Harry Potter.

He replaced Potter passing through the curtain constantly in his mind. It was a cherished memory that he would live for time and time again. His associates looked at him and he turned towards them.

"Potter's not returning, I don't know why you're so worried," Blaise said. "Not even the Boy-Who-Lived and his insane luck of surviving what couldn't be survived is going to survive the Black Veil."

The curtain of the veil whipped back. Blaise turned around for a moment, but it settled for a moment. There was some reflexive action of the veil.

He turned his attention to the red haired witch on the ground. The poison was slowly coursing through her veins and causing her to become barely coherent. Blaise bent over and leaned down towards Ginny. "I know that you can hear me. For a few more moments anyway, you can hear me. Then you'll slowly become disoriented. Your higher brain functions will stop registering. Your lungs will fill with fluid and you will drown. The entire process takes twenty four hours, and it's painful."

Ginny's jaw ached and she couldn't even talk.

"Perhaps I should mention that your muscles become sore even before that," Blaise said. "Don't waste time worrying about Potter, he's not going to save you this time, you silly little bint."

Ginny's eyelids became heavy and it was hard for her to even keep her eyes open. She struggled to keep her head above water. An invisible hand pushed her underneath. It felt like she was being shoved underneath a veil of shadows.

Her breathing escalated heavily. This sensation was causing to have a really bad flashback to her first year at Hogwarts. Her heart felt like it tightened up.

One of them looked from Ginny to Blaise. "Should she react like that?"

"Different people react to poisons differently," Blaise said. He bent down and saw the horror in her eyes. "She must have had some kind of trauma….ah her first year at Hogwarts, I almost forgot. Well, it's a particularly cruel way for her to perish."

He seemed unconcerned and he turned to his associates. "Well, we better leave her to it."

"What if someone finds her before she expires?" one of them asked him.

"Unspeakables rarely come down in this room," Zabini said. "Only during periods where the veil between the spirit world and the real world are the thinnest. And by the time they find her….well there won't be anything left of her to find."

Blaise and his associates stepped away from her. Ginny was on the ground, her mouth open with a scream, only there was no sound coming out. So much fluid filled her throat that it was hard for her to breath.

Ginny's eyelids grew heavy and her eyes shut. She could feel herself lose touch with the world slowly, slowly. Her memories degraded away, only leaving her with a few shattered fragments of the horror of her first year.

X-X-X

Su Li ran into Harry Potter approximately two hours ago. And he didn't return from his research. He spent some time down in the chambers, but never this long.

It was a cause of concern and it was extremely suspicious to be honest. Su Li moved over a shelf and slid some items away. They were in boxes and were dangerous.

She saw a shadowed group of figures make their way down the hallway. Sui frowned when she peered forward and pressed her hands against the edge of the shelf. By reading their body language, it was obvious how suspicious they looked.

The big problem was would she follow them, or would she go where they came? Taking one look at them, she knew that they were most certainly not supposed to be down there.

She made a split decision and made her way from where they came from. Su Li crept down and slipped into the lift.

There was only one thing that was in this direction and it was the death chamber. It was even a cause of mystery to the Unspeakables. Its access was more heavily restricted after the battle of the Department of Mysteries all those years ago and the death of Sirius Black.

She stepped forward and looked around. She half expected someone to leap out of the shadows and attack her.

Su Li gave a start. She barely maintained her composure when she saw the battered body of Ginny Weasley. Ginny had a state of perpetual fear etched on her face.

Time was of the essence. She was at Ginny in a matter of seconds and already looking over her. She already knew what she was poisoned with, judging by those symptoms. And given Ginny's history, it was an extremely awful way to be poisoned. The poison brought the very worst of some really bad memories while suppressing anything good.

"Ginny, hang tight," Su Li said. She rolled her over onto her back and pried her mouth open. She reached into the satchel that she had and pulled out a vial. "This isn't going to be pleasant, sorry about that."

She held Ginny's mouth open. She poured the liquid from the vial down her throat.

For a brief second, Su Li's head hung. She feared that Ginny was too far poisoned for the antidote to work. She raised her hand and her hand started to glow. She started muttering an incantation in Chinese underneath her breath and she pressed her hands on Ginny's chest.

A jolt of energy flowed from Su's body towards Ginny's. She could feel Ginny's burden and the shock nearly caused her to black out.

Nearly, but not completely, the dark haired Unspeakable was able to keep away. She took the same black liquid that she gave Ginny and she drank it. She felt better.

Ginny started coughing. The yellowish fluid flew out of her mouth in large globs, with Su quickly cleaned up.

Her body settled and all Su had to do was wait. If she was awake within the hour, then her body had staved off the worst. If not, she was too far gone and there went her only lead.

* * *

' _My name is Harry Potter. For seven years, I went to a magical school where magical things happened. A bunch of surreal shit went down and a whole lot of stupid shit as well. And now I'm here…..wherever here is.'_

Harry tried as hard as he could to keep some sense of who he was. He passed through the veil. For ninety nine percent of the people that would be the end, no questions asked. There was no chance for Sirius or any of the countless people who had passed through that curtain. Harry should be on his way to the next great adventure.

He defied what was considered convention. Impossible, that wasn't word that entered Harry's vocabulary.

' _Okay, theory, I just find where I went from and try and go back there,'_ Harry thought. _'What's the worst that could happen? I'm already dead, or I should be.'_

The only problem was that Harry didn't know where he came from. He was knocked through the veil by that ass and everything went topsy turvy.

' _I need a door,'_ Harry thought.

Millions of doors popped open all throughout the void that Harry stood in. He frowned and gave a growl of frustration. He realized where he was, there was no possibility of any sound.

' _That's not what I had in mind at all,'_ Harry thought.

Okay, they weren't doors, as much as they were windows. He peered through the window and he saw the very familiar scene of himself and Dumbledore. They stood on the cliff, having liberated the Horcrux from the cave.

Harry in the void watched Harry in the window disarm Dumbledore and shove him off of the cliff to his demise. He fell into the ice cold water with a loud splash and several rotted hands pulled him underneath the water.

' _Okay, didn't expect that,'_ Harry mused. He saw his alternate self gaze down at Dumbledore's broken body with the utmost of contempt.

Harry turned towards another window. He spotted a female with dark hair and green eyes dressed in battle garb, lead a group of what appeared to be warrior women towards the Ministry. The wand wavers fell in battle, no match for the fierce warriors they took on.

He turned his head. He saw a group of costumed heroes fighting what appeared to be a giant starfish creature in space. That made perfect sense, come to think of it.

Harry jumped and saw a man moving at super speed dressed in a yellow suit fighting another dressed in a red suit. They moved so fast that they were disorienting.

There were really too many windows for Harry to keep his eyes on. Harry kept moving forward.

He didn't need windows, he really needed a door. Several images passed, some of them involved Harry, or at least a version of him. Others didn't. Were they alternate timelines? Hints of the past, the present, or the future, or something else entirely?

"You've reached the void."

Harry was on alert. He could hear someone. He yelled out for the person, but no sound came from his mouth.

Why would it? Harry decided to circle back around and see if he missed something.

Harry looked at his hand and raised it. He saw the symbol of the Deathly Hallows burned in his hand.

"That's new," Harry muttered. He could see another version of himself, fighting a fire demon, with the same symbol burned in his left hand through the window. Upon closer inspection, the similarities were there, but so were the differences.

It stopped glowing, but it remained on his hand. That would go nicely with the lightning bolt scar, the scar on his shoulder, the scars on his chest, the scar on his legs, and oh, the reminder of him not to tell lies that was on his right hand.

Harry turned to a window and saw Dolores Umbridge get a series of arrows through her chest. She fell back, blood oozing through her body.

Too bad he couldn't figure out to rewind the windows. That was the most entertaining thing he saw. Surely there would be other time windows that depicted Dolores Umbridge getting gloriously maimed, shouldn't there be?

He needed to find that door. Harry heard a sharp whisper and that caused his head to turn around.

' _Master Death, master the void,'_ the voice continued.

Would Harry Potter go looking for the source of a mysterious disembodied voice? He wouldn't be Harry Potter if he didn't.

X-X-X

Ginny Weasley jerked awake. She started breathing heavily and the inside of her mouth tasted like cotton and her muscles ached like hell.

"I'm not dead?" Ginny asked.

A soft voice spoke. "Apparently not."

Ginny looked up and saw a dark haired female with exotic features staring back at her. She was on a seat in the Room of Death and studying Ginny intently.

"Su Li, right?" Ginny asked.

"Yes," Su Li said. "How are you feeling?"

"Alive," Ginny said. She smacked the inside of her lips and still had the lovely cotton taste in her mouth. "Zabini….he….."

"Zabini, as in Blaise Zabini?" Su Li asked. She didn't seem surprised, far from it, far from the contrary. "He was the one that poisoned you."

Ginny nodded.

"Well, he's picked up where his mother left off quite nicely," Su Li said. "What happened?"

"I can't….I can't remember," Ginny said. She closed her eyes. She realized something. "Oh my god, Harry!"

She got up so fast that she nearly hurt herself. Su Li placed her hand on her shoulder and eased her back down.

"The poison might be out of your system, but you're still extremely weak," she informed Ginny. "What happened to Harry?"

Ginny weakly pointed towards the veil of death. "Zabini pushed Harry through there…this is all my fault. If I didn't….."

"Blame doesn't solve anything, especially when distributed upon yourself," Su Li said. She looked at Ginny firmly and she nodded briskly in response. "He sent Harry through the veil."

"Yes, he did," Ginny said. She was still in numb shock.

"Here," Su Li said. She slipped off her thick robe and wrapped it around Ginny. "Better?"

Ginny nodded and her eyes widened. She saw several scars on Su's arms and the back of her legs. She was curious as to how she got them, but she didn't want to ask. Ginny noticed that her attention was diverted.

Su stared intently at the Veil, almost like she was burning a hole through it. Her eyes traced in a certain direction.

"If he went through then….there's no hope for him to come back," Ginny said. She couldn't believe that some posing ponce like Zabini got bragging rights as the one who brought down Harry Potter.

"He's Harry Potter," Su Li replied.

Ginny frowned. "Yes, I'm well aware of who he is…..but…you seem to think that this isn't cut and dry as it is."

"That's because it isn't," Su Li said crisply. "The veil….it moves, it shifts. It always remains still, except for a moment after the executed passes by."

Ginny was going to take her word for it. She was the Unspeakable and she wasn't. She groaned when she tried to get up.

"We shouldn't really be here, should we?" Ginny asked. "I mean, what if Zabini comes back?"

"He won't," Su Li said. Ginny raised her eyebrow. "He left you here to expire. He sent Harry through the veil. He has no reason to return to the scene of the crime."

That made a lot of sense. Ginny realized that the Unspeakable's eyes were firmly fixed on the archway.

"What are you looking for exactly?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know," she admitted. "We're entering uncharted territory."

Ginny hated not having any of the answers to the questions. Anyone else in the world, she would have been extremely worried and skeptical about their chances. It was Harry, so she wasn't as worried about his chances.

She lifted her wand to perform a charm to help warm herself.

The spell didn't work. Ginny waved her wand. No sparks came out of her wand.

"Shit," Ginny grumbled.

Su Li raised her eyebrow in response. Ginny confirmed what Su Li speculated. "I can't perform magic, at all."

"A fate worse than death for many in this world," she murmured. Zabini picked his poison rather well. It either killed her, or worse.

Whether or not the consequences of the potion were long term, she didn't know. Ginny's mouth hung open. This was the worst day in her life.

"What do I do?" Ginny asked.

Su Li turned around towards Ginny. She hunched down towards her and looked straight into her eyes. "Adapt, or you perish."

* * *

Harry Potter thought that he adapted rather well to the situation. There was the simple fact that he couldn't find the way out of here that was driving him absolutely insane.

He walked and the windows died down. Harry frowned when he stopped short at the end of the tunnel. This was the end of the line, it had to be.

He bumped into something. A solid mass beyond the endless void he experienced.

Harry lifted his hand and turned around. He saw cloaked figures glide towards him in the vortex. Was it his imagination, or was the endless void becoming less endless? It was almost like it was shrinking with him inside it.

The cloaked figures, Harry thought at first they were dementors, but they were difficult. They weren't any less cruel or awful looking, but there were differences to them. Harry raised his hands and waited.

He waited for another moment longer and frowned. They backed off. It was almost like they were impressed that that he stood his ground.

Harry noticed it out of the corner of his eye. It was an exact replication of the same veil he had been launched through.

He launched himself through that veil. The anguished screams of thousands assaulted his ears when he passed through.

* * *

"You're free to leave when you're able to," Su Li told Ginny. "But, you do realize that you can never be seen by any magical user ever again. If this gets back to Zabini, he will finish the job he started. And this time, he will have the courtesy to stick around until the job is finished."

"I know," Ginny said. "But, he can't kill me, if I kill him first."

Su Li raised her eyebrow. She didn't say anything.

"I'm not sure if I lost my magic completely to begin with," Ginny said. She closed her eyes. "It's…complicated, but it's just a feeling I have."

"Seventh child of a seventh child and the first daughter in seven generations on your father's direct line, am I correct?" Su Li asked her. Ginny nodded. "That's…interesting."

"It doesn't make me special," Ginny said with a frown.

"No, it doesn't," Su Li agreed. "I just said that it was interesting. Fate has a strange way of bringing people together."

"You're different than you were when you were at Hogwarts," Ginny said. She caused Su to look at her. "Luna….well you remember Luna Lovegood, don't you?"

"Yes, she was with you and Harry when you went to the Department of Mysteries," Su said. "The night that Riddle's return was exposed and the night that Black was killed."

"Yes, she was," Ginny confirmed. She knew that Harry saw that as one of his greatest failures. She didn't say anymore. "But, anyway, Luna said that you were always happy, nothing got you down. And now…you're here, you're now….less sunny. No offense."

"People change," Su Li informed her. Ginny frowned. "Don't assume that you know everything."

"I don't," Ginny replied curtly.

The veil moved again. Now Ginny was transfixed by its movements. She heard the whispers of dead family and friends calling to her, beckoning her to join them.

"Life's greatest mystery is death," Ginny murmured. "That was one of the things that Luna told me as well."

"Yes, her had her own unique perspective on the world," Su Li agreed. "And much of it was correct. You just had to read between the lines."

The veil kept whipping back and forth at a rapid fire rate. Ginny's eyes widened when she watched the veil. The voices got more frantic behind the veil and Ginny advanced on it.

Su's hand whipped out, showing lightning quick reflexes. She held Ginny back. "What do you think that you're doing?"

"Harry was calling for help, I can save him," Ginny said. "All he needs is my hand."

Ginny felt extremely disoriented and she staggered around like she was drunk. Her head pounded something fierce and then she fell to the ground, screaming in horror.

Her screams continued to escalate and they were of a blood curdling quality. Su raised her hand and slapped her across the face extremely hard. It didn't seem to register.

Su grabbed Ginny and tried to pull her out of the Room of Death.

"HARRY!" Ginny screamed. "I can save him!"

"Ginny, keep it together!" Su yelled. She muffled her mouth. Her screams continued, but they were not audible.

She sealed the door from the inner chambers. Su Li looked over her shoulder nervously. She was going to have a hell of a time explaining this to people.

Su Li made her way to the lift, dragging Ginny's body. She almost broke away from her twice.

"Harry really is impressive for taming you," Su grumbled. She was sure a feisty little thing.

Su wrapped her arms around Ginny and transported her out of the Department of Mysteries.

Ginny's body grew limp and Su hurled her onto the bed. She fastened her with restraints, mostly so she didn't hurt herself.

Su returned to the Department of Mysteries. She tried to push open the door to the Room of Death. The door just wouldn't budge, no matter how hard she tried to do so.

The door jerked open on its own accord, and Su Li stumbled inside.

She spotted Harry's body on the ground. He looked to be completely broken beyond repair. The first trip through the gateway should have destroyed him, and the return one most certainly did. Blood poured from his mouth.

Su rushed over and checked for a pulse. It was still there.

"Harry?" she asked.

"Is Ginny alright?" Harry asked weakly.

"She's fine," Su said. "We need to get you help."

Harry could barely keep it together. It felt like his insides had been liquefied. Something told him that he was well beyond Saint Mungos.

"Zabini killed me, pin a medal on him," Harry said weakly. "And tell him that I'll see him in hell."

Su Li considered using the same healing trick she did with Ginny, but it was much too late.

His body was still warm. Perhaps she could still salvage this.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: The Masks We Wear.**

* * *

Reality was a funny thing. The slightest nudge by an external and powerful source and it could bend and contort in ways that many people would not even dare to dream.

Science had been capable of some extraordinary things where it might as well have been magic to an untrained mind. And magic could be a science to some people, at least those who had tried to figure out whether or not there was some kind of order to things. People spent a countless amount of time trying to figure out magic theory, not realizing that there were exceptions to every rule.

Harry Potter was the exceptions to most rules. It started at the age of one when he survived the killing curse. The greatest minds in the Department of Mysteries and throughout various magical communities over the globe had not figured out exactly what made Harry Potter tick. Within him could potentially be the key to answer many questions.

She learned this soon enough. She learned all about Harry Potter. They all did, before too long.

The key was that many people strived to be extraordinary, and fell short. Harry Potter could not help, but be extraordinary.

Looking at his school grades, one might see an average student, who had a couple of subjects he did really well in and another couple of subjects where he failed to comprehend. School marks only told a portion of the story.

How many people could form a Patronus in the face of a Dementor? Most could perform a Patronus spell in a well lit room, but very few could do it in front of a real life Dementor. Never mind hundreds of them, as the story went.

"We're almost there, just hold on," she muttered. "You've survived so much, you're not about to die now."

His body was surprisingly light when she carried him up the mountains. The wind blew in her face, when she made her way up the mountain.

The journey was treacherous, because only the worthy came up here. Many perished before they made the journey.

She became her mask so completely and thoroughly, she appreciated what Harry Potter was to that world. The people in charge didn't like him, but they sure missed him when he was gone.

There was a temple up at the top of the mountains, at the edge of the village. She realized that time was running short.

"Halt."

A rough looking guard dressed in black garb made his way in front of her. There were several more dark clad assassins making their way in front of her. She pulled down her hood and they saw her face. They all stepped back a half of a step when they saw her.

"You know who I am and you know which faction of the League that I represent," Su Li said in a low voice. "And you know that Ra's Al Ghul owes the Monkey Clan a favor, and I intend to cash in on it."

For an outsider, the Monkey Clan would be an outrageous term, but for those who were within the League, they knew it was no laughing matter and feared their leader. Ra's Al Ghul afforded this leader a certain amount of respect, despite his lack of fear.

"And you now who this is," Su Li said. She laid him down on the ground gently. "For those of you who haven't name is Harry Potter. We owe him a debt of gratitude for eliminating an enemy of the League."

"Yes, we understand what he has done."

The one and only Ra's Al Ghul turned up. Su Li looked up at him and dropped to one knee in a sign of respect. It was not something that thrilled her, but for now, this man was Ra's Al Ghul and she was taught by her mother to respect her superiors.

"Rise," Ra's Al Ghul said. "What has happened to him?"

"I stabilized him the best that I could, but if he doesn't have intervention soon, he will die," Su Li said.

"He has survived trials that could have killed many men," Ra's informed her. He had eyes and ears in every corner of the world and the British magical community was no exception to that rule. "What makes you think that whatever fate he has suffered will kill him?"

"He was sent through the Veil of the Endless," Su Li said in a hushed voice. "By the Colony."

Ra's didn't need to tell anyone why this was a problem. His old enemy decided to manipulate some power hungry individuals in that world. Some of them didn't need much manipulating.

Riddle threw off a lot of the HIVE's plans and their plans for their splinter group who had infiltrated the Ministry, called the Colony, aptly named after a group of ants.

"The Veil," Ra's said. He pondered that. "And he returned from that."

"Not well," Su Li said. "The Monkey Clan….."

"Is owed a favor," Ra's interrupted to her. And you wish to use your goodwill regarding Harry Potter?"

"It's more than that and we both know that," Su Li said.

"Yes, I'm aware of that," Ra's agreed. He turned to his men. "Bring him in and prepare him for the Lazarus Pit."

Ra's men made their way down and lifted up the battered form of Harry Potter. He was stubbornly clinging onto life and he was hauled up.

"As long as the body still is warm, there is a chance," Ra's said to her. "Do join us for his rebirth."

She didn't really want to bring him here. This was a last ditch resort to rescue him. She had half of an idea that he had his own motives for agreeing so readily, but he wouldn't be Ra's Al Ghul if he didn't.

It was hard to remember half of the time that Su Li was a mask. Luna Lovegood was extremely perceptive to think that Su Li was a different person was than she was during her time at Hogwarts.

Most people chalked up her change in personality due to the trauma of the war with Lord Voldemort. Su Li wasn't the only one who was changed, so it was a handy excuse to have.

* * *

Ginny Weasley say up and she was breathing extremely heavily. She shook her head. This was her second near death experience in less than a couple of hours.

Her wand rested on the bedside table. She picked it up and tried to perform magic within it. She remembered that she had somehow, temporary lost the ability to perform magic.

The last thing she remembered was Harry's voice, and the voice of several others, screaming out in agony. The very fabric of reality slipped apart. Ginny got up to her feet, and winced.

She was still weak, and unable to really move too quickly. Ginny was always stubborn. She had to be, with six older brothers. Being soft wasn't a luxury that she had. She stumbled over to the table in time to find a neatly folded note.

 _Harry came through the veil. In bad shape. Will inform you if he can be resurrected._

It was obviously from Su Li, it was short and to the point. Ginny was disappointed that she couldn't take the journey, but understood why. She didn't know whether or not she had a relapse.

She turned towards a mirror towards the edge, and frowned. There were a few scratches on her face and it looked like she suffered a black eye.

"Boy, Ginny, no need to be so hard on yourself, it isn't like people would line up to do that for you," Ginny murmured to herself.

Ginny heard the whispers regarding her, about her relationship with Harry. Obviously, there would always be whispers, and a bit of a hatred for the one that officially got with Harry.

She found the hateful whispers about how she gave Harry a love potion to be rather amusing, especially since it was from the same people who would in fact give Harry a love potion if they had half of the chance. And it was an insult to Harry, given that if he obviously could throw off the Imperius Curse, he could throw off any love potion.

Idiots, the whole lot of them, but there were a few that weren't bitter about the fact that Ginny got with Harry. There were many that were though, but Harry could have gotten together with anyone in that world, and there would always be some squawking from those jealous hags.

That being said, their relationship wasn't the most conventional in the world and it wasn't exactly traditional. Her mother most certainly would not approve, which made things fairly perfect in Ginny's eyes.

They married about a year out of Hogwarts, after traveling the world, spending some time together, and just getting away from it all. They returned and took their NEWTs, and actually did far better than they would had they went to Hogwarts for their seventh year.

They got married and Molly was thrilled because of that. If only she knew what went on behind closed doors, because she would be less than pleased.

Of course, there was some whispers going on in the Ministry about trying to arrange Harry to be married, but Harry beat them to the punch. Ginny was a pureblood and the top student of her year, so they were happy. Not that Ginny or Harry gave much of a fuck, but it was better to satisfy the Ministry and keep them off of their backs so they could just get on with their lives.

And Harry and Ginny were both happy. They did have similar tastes, flying, dueling, beautiful women. Their marriage allowed both of them to continue the rather liberated lifestyle they had regarded women, and they also had plenty of fun with each other. Ginny didn't much care for wizards, but for Harry, she'd make an exception. And he was well worth making the exception.

It struck Ginny for the first time that she could not go back. Zabini and his associates, they would have her dead in a minute. Oh sure, it would look like a tragic accident, but she would be gone, for good.

' _Yeah, something tells me they're not going to listen about this shadow organization thing,'_ Ginny thought. _'They stuck their heads in the ground with Voldemort, I don't see this faring any better.'_

Ginny wondered where the hell she was. But that might be the idea, because if she didn't know where, than none of the people who might kill her would know where.

She sunk down onto the bed and waited. She was alive, but severely weak. Her magic was gone, but she could feel it within her. It was just difficult to explain how that was.

Ginny wondered what Su Li meant when she said that she would try to resurrect Harry. To amuse herself, Ginny thought of all of the ways she would have liked to murder Zabini. He had managed jump past Malfoy, both junior and senior, on the list of douchebags in their world, which took some real talent.

* * *

Harry Potter felt like he floating in the mist. He pieced together what happened. Did he finally get dragged into the great beyond?

Obviously, he wasn't that far gone, but he was an inch away from death.

He could feel himself standing on both sides of an invisible barrier. Harry looked out into the gateway, and he spotted a boat that was going across the ocean. He could barely make out what was said.

He could make out the word QUEEN on it, but that was it. There was a hell of a storm kicking up and the ship rocked. It was rocked hard and it appeared to crack. It was damaged in someway and the motion of the ocean caused it to come unraveled.

Lightning blasted through the sky and the next thing Harry knew, he was half awake. He was being hauled towards a pit of some sort. Why? Harry didn't know.

Was this an image from the past, the present, or the future? Or was it just another quirk in Harry's powers that created something that didn't technically exist.

' _Either master death or succumb to it, Harry Potter.'_

* * *

"Death fights for the souls that it wishes to claim," a priestess said, when she watched Harry Potter being hauled up.

Ra's turned to address her. "Death is a persistent hunter, only the strongest have a hope of outrunning it."

He slipped away from the entire group. The pit needed to be properly prepped for its future occupant to be placed inside. There were those who had attempted to use the Lazarus Pits in the past foolishly.

There was a certain time table that the pits could be properly utilized. While the body was still warm, that was the best time to use the pits.

In theory, the pits could be used on a body up until a year after the subject was deceased, but it was rather ill-advised to do so.

"Be warned," Ra's said. "Given the heritage of the pit's newest occupant, there is an uncertainty of how he will react. We must leave nothing to chance. Both for his sake, and for the League's"

* * *

She watched them prepare him. There was a certain amount of ceremony and the proper way to do this. You just couldn't throw someone into the pit.

Well you could, but it would lead to ill-advised side effects. The shock would kill them for good nearly as quickly as bringing them back to life.

She felt a hand place on her shoulder and she spun around. The woman stared down a gorgeous woman, with dark hair and shimmering blue eyes. She wore a red top that showed a modest, but still visible amount of cleavage and tight red pants.

"You could have had your head taken off," she said in an annoyed voice.

"So, you've returned here, haven't you?" she asked. "I thought that you had settled into your new life."

"It wasn't my life, merely just a means to observe whether or not they had infiltrated them," Su Li commented.

"You know, no one who has any idea what we're talking about is going to be fairly annoyed about us playing the pronoun game," she said. "And…Su Li, isn't it?"

"That's the mask I've taken on, Nyssa," Su Li commented.

Nyssa Al Ghul, the Daughter of the Demon, nodded. "And that's the name I must call you."

"For now, he doesn't know," Su Li commented. "He may suspect, but he doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve as much as people assume."

Nyssa nodded. "Assumptions, the tools of fools."

"Quite," Su Li said.

"I remember when you came to Nanda Parbat for the first time," Nyssa said.

"Not the time to go down memory lane," Su Li warned her. "I prefer to deal with the present."

Nyssa could understand. When she arrived here, she wasn't well.

"Your mother was out for blood," Nyssa said in a hushed voice.

"I recall," Su Li said shortly.

"Well, I see that you're as chatty as ever," Nyssa said. "Your mother always terrified me."

"She'll take that as a compliment," Su Li replied. "What's taking so long?"

"The ceremony of using the Pits," Nyssa reminded her.

"That, or your father's sense of his own importance?" Su Li asked.

Nyssa didn't say anything. Her attention was best not to be divided when her father spoke.

* * *

Blaise Zabini had a spring in his step due to the fact that he was the one that brought down Harry Potter.

The Ministry was a skeleton crew during the holiday season. The Aurors pretty much took the entire last three weeks of December off and the first two weeks of January off. Their reasoning was that there was no dark lord, so there was no reason for them to work. The grunts at the hit wizard squad got the brunt of the work and there was a fair amount of resentment towards the Aurors for getting paid higher rages, for less work.

Zabini couldn't really be bothered by the Ministry politics. He was the man who took down Harry Potter.

He made his way to the backroom of the Broken Cauldron pub, not to be confused with the more famous Leaky Cauldron. This pub was deep in the heart of Knockturn Alley and it pretty much allowed any who entered it to get what they wanted to.

Smuggled goods, drugs, or women, as long as you had the galleons to spare, you could get it when you were here. And it had a high trade of classified Ministry information as well, something that made it a hotspot for Ministry officials. It was a constant race for the heads of the various departments to put themselves ahead and make themselves look better.

Blackmail was a glorious game and Blaise fancied himself as a master. His mother taught him too well.

A figure dressed in red robes stepped forward and extended his hand. The two men gave a limp wristed looking handshake to show that they were of similar minds.

"He wishes to see you," the figure in the robes answered.

Blaise hoped to be upgraded into the HIVE proper due to the deed he accomplished. He was well aware that being a part of the Colony meant that he was basically an ant. He thought that he could offer more to the Hive and perhaps properly know their leader. He wasn't sure if Mr. Damon was the man in charge, an alias of the man in charge, or just a man who was in charge of the level above him.

An ominous looking figure waited for him. He had two equally ominous bodyguards standing on either side of him.

"Mr. Zabini," he said.

"Mr. Damon," he replied. "I trust that you managed to get it into the country."

"It wasn't easy," Blaise said. "But I did, especially with Harry Potter nosing around. But I took care of him."

"Clarify your statement," Damon said.

"Potter was investigating and he found out about the Colony and about the HIVE," Blaise said. "But I took care of him, and I killed his wife as well."

"Harry Potter is not so easily killed," Mr. Damon told him. "That much I'm aware of."

Riddle's ascension to Lord Voldemort was a factor that the HIVE didn't plan on. Voldemort was a dangerous wild card and he did fit with their plans. He was not a drone, he was too independent and had his own idea of world domination.

The Bumblebee, one of the top members of HIVE, tried to create the perfect savior to take down the threat of Voldemort, when he failed to do so himself. And it nearly worked. If Potter and Voldemort took each other out, then the HIVE could move forward with their plans.

Yet, somehow, the Bumblebee bumbled the plans, and his master was not too pleased. Harry Potter gained possession to the Keys to the Endless, known to some as the Deathly Hallows.

"I killed Harry Potter," Zabini protested.

"Did you bring his body before me?" Mr. Damon asked.

"There was no body, for I sent him through the veil in the Death Room," Blaise said.

Zabini waited patiently for his praise at his creative tactics and a nice pat in the back, but he got neither.

"You sent him through the veil," Mr. Damon said. He repeated this patiently. "You sent someone who has united the keys, through the veil."

"He surrendered his wand to me, that means I'm the master of the Elder Wand," Zabini said. He realized that he shouldn't have said that out loud.

"And this is why you will remain in your position, because you truthfully know nothing," Damon said. Once they were united, that could not be broken without utterly destroying all three artifacts. And that could only be done by the person who done so. "You did not get permission for what you did."

"Potter had to be silenced," Zabini said.

"He had no concrete proof that there was a conspiracy until you shoved him through the veil," a figure off to the side said. She spoke in a low voice and she sounded fairly annoyed with him. "He will return from this. So, why don't you scurry off like the little ant you are, and prepare to play your part?"

"Listen here I don't have to…"

Damon lifted his hand and firmly squeezed Zabini's wrist. He could feel the life force slowly drain out of him.

"One more squeeze, and you're dead," Damon said in a low voice. "You ever speak to her in that tone again, I'll find someone else."

Zabini's hand was released and he felt like he had just barely recovered from an extremely bad case of the flu.

"The tensions between the first generation magic users and the blood purity movement are still rocky," Damon reminded Zabini. "And the goblins detest all wand wavers and it wouldn't take much to spark another Goblin Rebellion. Discretion is the key for your assignment."

Zabini scurried off. His life sucked and it was going so good earlier.

"Do you think that he can trust him?" the female drone asked.

"In a sense, he knows where his bread is buttered," Damon said. He switched tactics. "Now, what of our associates in Bialya and Markovia?"

"Bialya is on board, while Markovia is reluctant to commit," the drone responded.

"They will need to be swayed," Damon said. "We will need to investigate the Death Room in the Department of Mysteries."

"I'll send the word," the drone said, rising to her feet.

* * *

Ra's Al Ghul stood off to the shadows and watched when the body of Harry Potter was lowered closer towards the waters of the Lazarus Pit. Their mystical healing properties were near him

"These waters have brought me back when I was an inch away from reaching death's tender touch," Ra's said. "I have lived many life times and have seen civilizations rise and civilizations crumble. But, now, I use these waters to fulfill a debt, a promise, and a regret all in the same time. With all three, I, as Ra's Al Ghul, give my blessing to return the one known as Harry Potter back to the world of the living and to deliver him from the clutch of death."

"May Death be merciful and concede that his time has not arrived," the priestess said. She dropped to her knee and said a quick prayer for his soul.

Ra's motioned with his hand and Harry was dropped into the Lazarus Pit.

Time passed when they waited.

Harry Potter's rose out of the water, his green eyes going wide. He screamed in absolute agony when it felt like millions of hot daggers shoved underneath his skin.

His body shook madly and he looked like he was going to have a seizure. His head whipped back and he screamed.

The League formed a circle around their leader.

"Stand back," Ra's informed them. "Let it pass."

Harry Potter could feel the mystical energies flow through his body from the pit. The damage caused in his body from returning from the veil was the first to heal.

His entire life flashed before his eyes, when he was bombarded with memory after memory. Including memories which had been regulated to the deepest subconscious underneath cloud of fog, overwhelmed him.

The blood protection being used to protect the residence of Number Four Privet Drive weakened his body and the Horcrux being in his body had caused even more extraordinary damage. He was extremely lucky to live with the damages that he had.

Harry levitated off of the ground for a moment and he descended to the ground, landing on the ground.

Nyssa watched his progression through the pit with widened eyes. She shook her head.

"I will kill her!" Harry yelled, bouncing up to his feet and trying to move quickly. He was spitting white hot fire and the rage that flowed through his eyes was inhumane.

"Restrain him!" Ra's shouted. Several assassins were knocked down to the ground like nine pins in their attempt to grab Harry. "Mr. Potter, listen to me, you are not in your right mind, you must calm yourself."

"Harry, please," Su Li said. She and Nyssa grabbed Harry and managed to hold him back, or maybe he was coming to his senses. Either way, she didn't complain.

Harry came down from the post-Lazarus pit psychosis slowly. His rage was gone.

"Where am I?" Harry asked. He could scarcely remember what happened. The last thing he remembered was that he was heading down to the Department of Mysteries to investigate the man the Lestranges were working for. "How did I get here? And who are you?"

"My name is Ra's Al Ghul, you were brought here by….Ms. Li," Ra's said. Harry sensed a subtle, but still noticeable word swap regarding Su Li's name. He recognized the name Ra's Al Ghul and thus he was rightfully put on his guard. "And this is Nanda Parbat, a place of enlightenment and the home of some of the greatest warriors on this planet."

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Where We End Up.**

* * *

"There have been many fallen warriors who have come to this place, when the outside world has thought to them as dead, so they could disappear," Ra's continued. "And you have been brought here and you have been blessed with the ability to survive the Lazarus Pits."

Harry didn't say anything. This was one of those situations where he felt like he had to let the other man talk and figure out what his game was. He didn't think that someone like Ra's Al Ghul would have allowed him used to one of his sacred pits, not without some kind of price.

"It's remarkable what you've survived," Ra's said. "I cannot in recent memory recall someone who has gone through quite a prolific rebirth. The real question is, how are you feeling?"

"Confused," Harry admitted. "There is a reason why you let me use that Pit to return to life."

"Merely fulfilling a debt, a promise, and correcting a mistake," Ra's commented. His tone was mysterious. "You would not have passed through the gates between the two worlds had there not been a reason. I was merely giving you the added assistance that you needed to, to return. That is all."

"And I'm free to go, at any time?" Harry asked. He figured there would be some kind of catch.

"If that's what you desire, then you can walk out these doors when you are fully healed," Ra's informed him. "But I've heard enough about you to know that you won't."

Harry started at the man before him. "You might not know about me as much as you think that you do."

"I know you have a thirst for information and you will not leave until it is," Ra's said. "And if there is any chance that I can give you the answers that you seek, you will not leave until they are yours."

Harry didn't say anything straight away, but he knew that he was right.

"There are mental and physical consequences through using the Pit, therefore you will need to rest," Ra's said.

"I will show him to his quarters, Father," Nyssa offered. "If that is quite alright with Mr. Potter?"

"I do not see a problem with that, I trust your skills are adequate enough to deal with a relapse," Ra's responded. He leaned back into the shadows. He had to admit he was impressed.

Harry Potter came down from his post Lazarus induced madness rather quickly. Quicker than most did, but there were many who when they entered the Pit were never the same ever again.

"Please come this way," Nyssa said.

"I'll come with," Su answered her.

The two of them walked away. The eyes of every single member of the League were on them.

"Dare I ask what they're looking at?" Harry asked.

Su paused for a moment. "You're an outsider. Therefore they don't know what to make of you."

"You have my father's blessing to be here, though," Nyssa said. "They dare not defy it."

Harry was mostly satisfied. The three of them walked down a long and winding hallway. He stopped.

"I'm afraid that we haven't been properly introduced," Harry said. "Or maybe we have, and I don't remember it because I was out of it."

"No, you didn't forget it," Nyssa said. "My name is Nyssa Al Ghul."

"Harry Potter, it's a pleasure to meet you," Harry said. He took her hand into hers.

"I know, I know who you are," Nyssa said. Harry frowned when he took her hand into his and she felt a jolt that passed through her hand. She stepped back.

"Must be some residual accidental magic from me going into the Pit," Harry suggested. Granted, there were other explanations for that, but his magic felt like it was all over the place right now, so he didn't even want to begin how much he had changed.

"That makes perfect sense," Nyssa muttered. She couldn't recall anyone with his abilities having use of the Pit ever, but she did not claim to know it all. Her father seemed interested how it worked, which it would lead more credence to the fact that this was an unprecedented event.

"You have a question, don't you?" Harry asked her.

Nyssa frowned and she hesitated. "No, more of a morbid curiosity more than anything."

"She wants to know who you wanted to kill when you got out of the Pit," Su said. Nyssa frowned when she was being spoken for. "Don't tell me that you don't want to know."

"Good question," Harry said. "I wish I could remember. The last thing I remember is that I was on my way to the Department of Mysteries and ever since then, it's a total blank. I was caught off guard by your father."

"Yes, if you've heard of him, I can see why you'd be caught off guard," Nyssa commented. She nodded in agreement and frowned. "So, you don't recall anything that…"

"No, I'm afraid not," Harry said. He rubbed the top of his head.

Su Li frowned. She knew that look and it was something deeper than your usual bout of Lazarus induced madness. There was something else beyond that.

"Very well," Nyssa said. She maintained a cordial tone. "If you need anything…..signal….I'll be down the hallway."

She was bound to keep a close eye on this one. Legends were fairly interesting, but Nyssa knew something else. There was something else more than insane.

"Do you need anything?" Su asked.

"Yes, what does a guy have to do to get something to eat?" Harry asked.

Nyssa frowned. "Yes, of course….you should eat after what you've been through. I cannot believe that important details have been neglected. I'll rectify that at once."

She made her way off to do so.

"Is she always that sunny?" Harry asked Su. The other girl responded with a shrug.

"Nyssa tries too hard to prove herself to her father, even if….he'd prefer a male heir," Su replied. She frowned. "You might not recall this, but Ginny is at a safe house. She has a long road to recovery herself….but I'm not sure how to break this to you."

"I'm certain that you can fill him in, in the morning," Nyssa said. She lead a group of servant girls in, and they were all carrying trays of food for Harry to eat. Bread and soup, nothing too extravagant, and there was orange juice as well. Nyssa lifted up a piece of the bread and she ate it. "I figured that I'd save us both the trouble of you having to check for any poisons. Only a fool would poison me after all."

"Well, that was a rather bold move to ensure my trust," Harry commented. He sniffed the food and it passed that particular test. He reached into his pocket to perform a more through scan "My wand, it's…"

"You must have lost it to Zabini," Su replied.

Harry frowned, that was inconvenient.

"This is one thing I've never grasped about that particular community of mages," Nyssa said. Harry raised his eyebrow. "Why would you hang your entire hope of survival on a piece of wood that could be easily broken?"

"Well, there are enchantments that should in theory make it more durable," Harry replied. He sighed. "That's a discussion I've had with numerous people, and I don't much feel like having it again."

Harry looked up at the food. He better eat it, actually he was so hungry that he could eat a hippogriff. And they weren't that edible, or so Harry heard. He couldn't personally vouch for that himself.

"Sit down," Harry offered.

"Are you sure?" Nyssa asked him. "I wouldn't want to intrude…"

"It's not intruding at all, having dinner with two lovely ladies is the furthest thing from an intrusion," Harry said. "And, um, Su, And thank you for bringing me here."

"It was the least that I could do," Su said. She sat down, and looked at the food.

"You may leave," Nyssa informed the servants. They nodded and they left. She turned towards Harry, who was already eating what was brought for him. She was a bit hungry herself.

"Help yourself," Harry said. "Not that I have to tell you anything, the daughter of Ra's Al Ghul and everything."

"No, you don't," Nyssa responded. This had been an extremely interesting day so far, if she had to say so herself.

"I won't ask you anything, if that's what's making you uncomfortable," Harry said. "At least not yet."

"Harry Potter not question everything, there's a shock," Su murmured underneath her breath.

"You know, I'm pretty sure that we didn't have the pleasure to speak that often at Hogwarts," Harry informed her. Su frowned, but recovered quickly. "But, then again, I don't think that I spread my social circle at as much as it should be."

His group of friends was rather closely knit, and it seemed like it was hard to break into that, when it did.

"We didn't," Su informed her.

"Right, we didn't, it was almost like when you started working at the Department of Mysteries, we really had a chance to talk together for the first time," Harry answered. He paused and decided to eat something. He was still a bit woozy from going through the pits.

"Well, it's a connection well forged now," Nyssa said. She hoped to divert Harry's attention away from the other girl and towards her. "But, if you don't mind, I would ask you a question of my own."

"Depends on the question if I can answer it," Harry replied.

There was another knock on the door and Nyssa got up to her feet suddenly. She didn't think that she would get away with things that easily. She frowned when she saw one of her father's many servants opening the door.

"I'm just making sure that our guest is comfortable and settled in," Nyssa said. She sounded extremely annoyed.

"Your father wishes to address the League," Ra's aide responded. "And it would be poor form for his own daughter not to be present."

"Of course," Nyssa said. She turned towards Harry. "Another time, I guess."

"Yes, another time," Harry confirmed. "Thank you."

Nyssa left him. Su Li looked at Harry for a second and followed her out of the room.

That left Harry to his own thoughts and his own devices. He had a lot to think about. Now that his hunger had been satisfied, he really needed sleep. He couldn't really figure out the last time that he had sleep to be honest.

Then again, given how scattered his memories were right now, that just seemed to be just as well.

* * *

Harry thought that he woke up suddenly, but rather he was standing in the middle of a field. The field stretched on for miles and miles.

His legs moved, almost on their own accord. There were whispers that occurred and Harry knew he was getting closer to acquiring his answers.

A figure stood dressed in black robes.

"Stop!" Harry yelled after the figure.

The figure took off down the endless field, which didn't seen that endless. Rather, it turned into a graveyard.

That never ended well. Harry's past encounters in graveyards told him enough about how entering one would be an extremely bad idea.

The robed figure circled around and made her way inside of a crypt. Harry followed her deeper into where he was.

She was gone, vanished in a mist. But, there was something else that was in front of them. There was a large basin with markings on it. It resembled a Pensieve.

Harry sensed a deep and personal connection with the contents inside. He placed his hands on the edge of it and tried to pry the surface up. Unfortunately, for Harry, the top of the Pensieve would not budge no matter what.

"They're locked away, the key is in your reach, but you must reach within yourself to find it."

Harry turned around and saw the same robed figure that he had been chasing through the field and into the cemetery. She hovered, legs crossed, and she corked her head to the side.

"I told you once Harry Potter, you either master death, or you succumb," she informed him. She dropped down.

"This is the Lazarus Pit talking," Harry said.

"You don't recall anything prior to the moment where you went into the Department of Mysteries looking for answers," she responded. She stepped towards him. "I can help you, but first you must master Death fully. The Hallows were the keys, but there is much more here"

Harry hated being lead around so he tried to reach out and grab onto this enchanting mysterious woman. She fell into the depths and her body appeared to dissolve. Mist ensnared Harry.

The next thing he knew, he was hovering about the same ship that he saw when he was hovering in the in between once again. He frowned when he saw the very obvious damage done on the ship.

Lightning flashed and it happened once again. The ship cracked open. Harry could hear a female screaming as she was pulled from the ship underneath the water and the ship continued to crack once again.

Harry was presently in his bed in the chambers that he had been gifted. He blinked and closed his eyes.

"Master Death," Harry muttered. He rolled over the statement in his mind several times.

The term mastering had many different meanings. Harry embraced Death several times, and had found his way back.

What was another word for master?

' _Defeat, well I'm not sure if that's it,'_ Harry said. _'Conquer Death? Conquer, as in a conquest…..as in…..'_

Harry faded to black it. His body glowed when he slumbered, energy radiating off of his body when his mind returned back to a state of blissful rest, with his dreams being what passed for normal of him.

* * *

Ginny fixed herself something to eat and she was in much better spirits.

The door creaked open and Ginny stood up instantly. She pointed her wand forward.

"Right, forgot," Ginny muttered in a disgusted voice. "What I'm going to do, give whoever that is a splinter?"

"You had the right instincts," Su said. She stepped forward and brought Ginny some takeout when she returned. "But, your options were fairly limited."

"Of course they are," Ginny said. She sank down in her chair in front of Su and frowned. "Glad that you brought me something to eat, I'm starving…..canned soup is okay, but not the best."

"I'm not sure if you should be eating something too heavy on your stomach," Su informed her. Ginny shrugged.

"So, Harry's fine, right?" Ginny asked. She looked Su in the eye dead on.

"He's alive," Su informed her. "He's resting."

"How did you do it?" Ginny asked her. Su frowned. "He went through the Veil and returned….he should have been dead from something like that."

"He almost was," Su confirmed in an extremely grim voice. "I stabilized him long enough to bring him…to a place where he could be helped."

"Where?" Ginny asked. She hated to be left out of the loop. She was hoping that would end when she was finally free of her mother, who seemed to think that everyone was around the age of five.

"Nanda Parbat," Su said.

That caused Ginny to frown. The name kind of rang a bell, she was sure that Harry mentioned it one time or another.

"The League of Assassins?" Ginny asked. Su nodded. "You took him to the League of Assassins!"

Su frowned. "I had to save his life. Thankfully, Ra's Al Ghul owed me a favor, and I intended…."

"Ra's Al Ghul!" Ginny exclaimed. She might not be all that knowledgeable of people outside of her own little magical bubble, but she knew that name. She got up to her feet and suddenly felt disoriented. She was still not one hundred percent. "You took him to….one of the most dangerous men on Earth….and how did he owe you a favor?"

Su grabbed Ginny's shoulder firmly. "You need to calm yourself."

"I'm finding that a bit bloody difficult to do so right now," Ginny said through gritted teeth.

"I took Harry there, and yes….he was put in the Lazarus Pit," Su informed her. "That's the extent of what I could tell you."

Ginny thought that was just wonderful. Her tone was crisp. "So, when do I get to see my husband?"

"As soon as you're able to make the trip," Su told her. "There are certain things far deeper than you can imagine."

"Try me," Ginny said.

"It isn't my place to tell you these things," Su said.

Ginny wasn't stupid. She was beginning to put two and two together.

"You had a feeling that something was going to happen, didn't you?" Ginny asked coolly. "You were down in the Department of Mysteries for a reason."

"Yes," Su informed her.

"So, what did you do to her?" Ginny asked.

"I'm afraid I don't understand what you're talking about," Su answered.

"Su Li, what did you do with her?" Ginny asked. Su frowned. "You're pretty good, almost perfect, I'll give you that. But, I've had some time to do some thinking. I don't think that I've once seen you perform magic using a wand."

Su applied pressure to Ginny's shoulder and caused her to slump into the chair, growing completely unconscious.

"You're right," the girl said. She picked up Ginny and escorted her into the bedroom. While, she didn't pose any threat without her magic, she wasn't taking any chances. "And you'll see Harry soon. And when the time is right, you'll understand."

Ginny could still hear her, even though she couldn't move. Internally, Ginny was fuming.

"This is far deeper than anything you've ever dealt with," she informed Ginny. "Rest well."

Ginny couldn't do anything, but rest well in the position that she was in. She wondered what the hell happened and who this girl posing as Su Li was.

* * *

Nyssa thought that entire grandstanding speech from her father was something that she could have gone without hearing. It wasn't as if she didn't have it beaten in her head constantly.

It was the standard code of conduct when an outsider was brought in and how they should maintain the standards expected by the League, all that wonderful stuff. Nyssa heard it a million times.

She could see the room of their guest cracked open. Curiosity got the better of her and she could see him standing in the middle of the room, with a stick in his hand.

"Good morning," Harry said.

Nyssa recovered instantly from what he said. "What are you doing?"

"Testing a theory," Harry said. He waved the stick he held. "For seven years, they taught me how to perform magic with a wand, but I know I can do it with ease without a wand."

"How?" Nyssa asked.

"All mages are capable of accidental magic at a young age," Harry explained. "Once they learn to use magic with a wand, they are trained not to perform it. And other than exceptionable emotional outbursts, which become less frequent with age, that's the truth."

"And you're thinking that you can achieve the same results with a normal ordinary stick than you would with a wand," Nyssa said.

"The core within the wand is the means to channel magic," Harry informed her.

"Fascinating," she answered dryly. "And where does the core come from?"

"Dragons, Phoenixes, Unicorns, among other magical creatures," Harry explained. "A wand core is more durable when gifted freely by the animal. There is a black market of wands made from creatures who did not give their cores freely. The results from those wands can be unstable, to put it mildly. The wand does choose the wizard."

He waved the faux wand and one of the stone blocks levitated a few inches off of the ground, before it crashed down, smashing into bits.

"Well, that's progress," Harry said.

"You're on fire," Nyssa said.

"I don't think that I'm doing that well," Harry argued.

"No, you're seriously on fire!" Nyssa shouted.

Sure enough, the upper half of Harry's body became a human inferno. Nyssa, acting with the reflexes that were trained by the League of Assassins, picked up the pitcher of water. She hurled it onto Harry.

The flames continued to surround Harry's body. Harry stood there and closed his eyes. The fire slowly decreased in volume around his body and became nothing more than a lit spark on Harry's finger, which he casually blew out.

"I hate when that happens," Harry said to her nonchalantly.

Nyssa walked over towards him and looked him over. He stood there without a shirt on, and needless to say, a shirtless Harry Potter was a sight that would catch many females unaware.

"You should have at least second degree burns," Nyssa said. She ran her hand over his chest, and felt him, lingering on him for a second. "But, your skin is…"

"Feel free to take as much time as you need," Harry said. She slowly retracted her hand. "I've always been fairly durable, I guess. Although…curiously, last time this happened, I did get some blistering."

"The Pits, they caused….some changes in you," Nyssa said. She muttered underneath her breath.

She knew that the Pits could bring a normal human back to life, but what about an enhanced human like Harry?

Harry turned around and looked at his upper body in the mirror. He whistled when he looked over at what he saw or rather he didn't see.

"Well, the scars might be quite the talking point at parties," Harry said. "But, I'm glad that they're gone."

Harry lifted his hand. He no longer had those words carved in his hand. That was the most disgusting blemish of there all.

The mark of Death still was on the palm of his hand.

"Wish my shirts were a bit more durable," Harry said. He picked up a towel and slowly transfigured it. It would have to do, at least for now. "Not my best work, but good enough. And since I'm apparently distracting you, it will have to do."

"You're not distracting me," Nyssa said, a bit less conviction in her voice than she would have liked to have.

Nyssa watched him slip the shirt back on. She had to say she was a bit disappointed with the change of attire.

"Good thing that it didn't claim my pants," Harry said. "Because, I can't transfigure something into pants to save my life. Well, I can, but they keep splitting at the crotch."

"So, you're quite alright," Nyssa said. She stepped towards him.

"Was there a reason why you visited this early in the morning?" Harry asked.

"I was about to head off to breakfast and I could use some company," Nyssa said. "And we never did get to finish our discussion last night."

"We didn't, did we?" Harry asked. He smiled at her. "Well, I think that we should correct that."

"Yes," Nyssa informed him. "And you can tell me how you managed that little trick you did earlier."

"Careful, Nyssa, I don't want to give away all of my trade secrets," Harry said.

Harry felt a bit more in tune with his gifts than he had been earlier and he was glad for that. Nyssa lead the way and Harry followed her out the door. Things were quiet where they were.

"We shouldn't be disturbed where we're going," Nyssa said. Harry raised his eyebrow, but didn't say anything, at least for now. She lead Harry off, but they ran right into Su Li, who looked as white as sheet.

"What's wrong?" Nyssa asked.

"Ginny knows," Su Li said concisely.

"She knows?" Nyssa asked. She turned towards Harry in an apologetic manner. "This is a matter that I have to bring before my father if Su's cover had been blown…..I guess I'm going to have to take a rain check on that breakfast."

Harry looked at her. "Perhaps third time is the charm?"

"Maybe," Nyssa informed him.

If the two girls thought that they were going to step away without Harry asking the obvious question.

"What did Ginny find out?" Harry asked. The two girls stopped. "Did she figure out that Su isn't who she said that she was?"

Nyssa whipped around and Su did as well.

"You knew as well," Su said.

"I suspected," Harry said. "It was the perfect cover going into the Department of Mysteries, because you could isolate yourself from her friends and have the excuse that the ravages of war changed you. Su was smart enough to get her way into the Department of Mysteries, but that didn't fit her. Until you became her, because that's where you needed to be."

"He wants the truth," Nyssa said.

"I respect you enough where I won't press you hard for this information," Harry said. "You can choose not to tell me."

Nyssa knew that there was a catch. "And if we don't tell you?"

"Thanks for the resurrection," Harry said. "And send Ra's Al Ghul my regards, but I'll find the answers on my own."

Harry turned around and started to walk off. He mentally counted down on his head. He heard Nyssa mutter something to Su.

"Wait!" Su called racing after him.

She knew from her research that deception was the quickest way to alienate Harry Potter.

"So, if you're not Su Li, who are you?" Harry asked.

There was a long pause and she spoke. "My name is Cassandra Cain."

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: Offer.**

* * *

Harry looked at Su, or rather Cassandra, and Nyssa. The next question was obvious. "What happened to the actual Su Li?"

"I wasn't the one that killed her, if that's what you're asking," Cassandra said. That caused Harry to raise her eyebrow. "Maybe I should explain?"

"That would be a good idea," Harry answered her. The three of them walked off and Nyssa escorted them into the same private chambers that she intended to have breakfast with Harry.

"There," Nyssa said. She made sure the door was fastened shut. "Now, we shouldn't be disturbed."

Nyssa sat down on Harry's left side and Cassandra sat on his right side. They settled in and Cassandra took a deep breath. "It all started about six years ago…..I had been given my first task as a member of the League of Assassins. I had been rescued from my….living situation and had lived here the eight years prior to that."

Harry could tell that was something that she didn't really want to talk about and he respected that.

"I was going to kill a man, who had helped enable the living situation that I discussed," Cassandra said. "He was a man who deserved to suffer. I chased him to a village, it had a distinct Asian cultural influence and a lot of mages live there. A couple of them attended Hogwarts, despite that grade of magic being well beneath them."

Cassandra looked a bit forlorn. Sneaking a quick look at Nyssa, it was obvious that this was the first time that she was hearing some of this.

"He decided to take a couple of girl's hostage," Cassandra said. "One of them was Su Li…..but she did something valiant. She sacrificed herself to save the other three, much younger girls. The curse he used on her was brutal."

She was glad that Harry grabbed her hand, because she could use the strength.

"I did kill the person who did this, but it didn't bring me any peace and I doubt that it brought her any peace," Cassandra said. "I did what I could for Su, but it was too late. She wasn't able to hold herself as well together as you would. I managed to get enough information from her, to pass off as her when I returned to the village."

Harry got that much, but there was one thing that he was struggling to wrap his head around.

"Why did you pose as her?" Harry asked. He could tell why Cassandra could pass herself off as Su Li. "And how did you pull it off?"

"There are a couple of reasons that I passed myself off as her," Cassandra recounted. "The first one was, it was an opportunity that the League had been looking for. The second reason was out of guilt. I felt like if I would have killed that bastard sooner and not hesitated, Su would not have been alive."

"You can't feel guilt for this," Nyssa informed her. "Was the killer….."

"No, one of his subordinates," Cassandra said.

Harry watched both of them. "So, why was the League looking for an opportunity?"

"You're going to have to speak to my father," Nyssa said. "That is, if you choose to stay."

"I never had any attention to leave," Harry replied.

"So, you just feigned leaving, to get me to reveal my true identity," Cassandra said. She frowned looking at him. "Very deceptive of you, Harry."

"You'd fit in with the League," Nyssa commented.

Harry thought that sounded marginally better than the fact that he should have been a Slytherin. He hated the entire house system, because he didn't think that seven years of youth should define an entire person for life. With some people it didn't, but with enough, old grudges died hard.

"I was just testing to see if you were honest with me, Cass," Harry said. "I knew who you were for about six months now."

"What?" Cass asked. She blinked. "How?"

"Trade secret," Harry replied.

Nyssa frowned. She was beginning to see one of the reasons why Harry was a subject of interest. "You seem to know more than you should."

"Yes, that's a recurring problem with me, it's made me all kinds of friends," Harry said. "But, there's a problem. Ginny knows about this. That surprised me."

"You didn't tell her?" Cass asked.

"Ginny and I have a rule, the office stays at home, unless it's something that puts either of us in mortal danger," Harry responded. "But, she's able to put two and two together more often than not. That's why I think we got together. We're both too nosy for our own good, and far smarter than some people give us credit for."

Cass sighed. "You do realize that puts us in a tight situation….with both of you knowing."

"All I knew was that your real name was Cassandra Cain," Harry informed her. "That's all I know….and I naturally knew the name Ra's Al Ghul. He's on the list of dangerous people to watch."

"My father ruffled a few important feathers in your world," Nyssa said. "That's all I can tell you at this point."

"I'm certain he has," Harry said. He was on his guard with everything. "But, I trust that we'll keep this matter between the three of us, regarding the fact that Ginny knows about Cassandra taking on Su Li's identity."

Both Nyssa and Cassandra looked at each other.

"You want me to keep this matter from my father?" Nyssa asked him.

"I'm asking you to do so," Harry said.

Nyssa contemplated this fact for a moment.

"What is a powerless witch going to do against the League?" Harry asked. "Does this really need to be something that your father should burden himself with?"

"No, there's no need for him to know about it," Nyssa said. She conceded that he had a point. "We'll keep this matter internal, between the three of us, unless it compromises the League."

Harry smiled. "Thank you, Nyssa."

* * *

Megan Jones waited patiently on the lift leading up to the Minister's office. The former Hufflepuff girl decided to take a job writing for the Daily Prophet as an investigative journalist. After Rita Skeeter retired on the back of making a small fortune off of the Dumbledore tell all book, there was a spot in the Prophet that opened up. Megan intended to join the Prophet as their Sport's reporter, but she kind of fell into the Investigative Journalism thing.

There she was, on track to speak to the Minister of Magic, regarding a couple of things. The Ministry claimed the war was over the moment that Voldemort fell and some were happy to agree with that. Megan wasn't really convinced though.

More personally, she was going to have lunch with Harry Potter, to try and score a potential interview and perhaps also score something else. She knew this wasn't like Harry at all. It caused Megan to become suspicious. She knew that Harry was up for an inquiry after killing the Lestrange Brothers without the Ministry's blessing, but he had been up for several inquiries before because of disobeying the Ministry's orders and that had not stopped him from going out in public.

Megan waited patiently. Footsteps approached her and she craned her neck. She frowned. "Miss Jones, I understand that you want a few questions asked."

She turned around. She saw a brunette girl with her hair tied back in a ponytail and a pair of glasses covering her face. The girl woman a custom made female business suit that had a modest skirt that went down. Her blouse was buttoned up completely and she walked in high heels.

"I was hoping to talk to Minister Shacklebolt," Megan said with a frown.

"Minister Shacklebolt had an urgent conference to attend with the International Confederation of Wizards," the woman said. "I'm sure that you can speak to me. I'm Hermione Granger, the Senior Undersecretary for the Minister of Magic."

"Yes, I know who you are," Megan said. She spoke in a calm and professional manner, disappointed that she didn't get her interview with the Ministry, but rather his underling. "So, I guess we're going to do this in your office."

Hermione nodded swiftly. "Yes, right this way. I can't ask more than a few questions I'm afraid."

That was fine with Megan that gave her an opportunity to hit her shots completely hard.

"So, you hung around with Harry Potter at Hogwarts," Megan replied. Hermione stiffened.

"I think that I've done a lot after my Hogwarts career, Miss Jones," Hermione told her stiffly. She sat down behind her desk and Megan took a seat in front of her. The chair behind Hermione's desk made her peer down at Jones, it having elevated her above the Hufflepuff girl. "Would you care for a lemon drop?"

"No thank you," Megan said. "But, yes, I agree, you've done a lot of things. You have single handedly helped magical creatures get a better deal and you have helped push through some laws that put people on more even footing. It was because of you made Muggle studies a compulsory subject for those who grew up in magical households and you also created a Magical Culture class, with both classes starting in their first year."

"Yes, that's correct," Hermione said. "You've done your homework, haven't you?"

"I wouldn't be a reporter if I didn't," Megan said. She pressed on. "Horace Slughorn's record is still strong when he chose you."

"I'd like to think that Professor Slughorn merely opened the door for me, I did the rest," Hermione answered. "I personally hope that magical users can be brought closer into the 21st century."

"Not everyone agrees with what you're doing," Megan said.

"Yes, the blood purists," Hermione commented. "I've actually helped draft legislation that prevented First-Generation Magical users from causing them trouble, based on what happened during the war with Voldemort. I'm not out to get them, like some of them assume."

"Can I quote you on that?" Megan asked.

"By all means, I've done nothing, but help, the Blood Purists," Hermione said.

"What do you have to say about the narrative that first generation magic users steal magic?" Megan asked.

"I think that they were misguided by a man who was only willing to use their influence and gold, and blind them with a promise of power that he was never willing to concede," Hermione said.

Megan jotted down some notes on what she said.

"So, do you think that they were naïve to believe Voldemort?" Megan asked.

"Given that Riddle has been proven to be nothing, but the product of a Muggle and a near squib, they should assume themselves to be foolish indeed," Hermione said. She took a drink of the tea. "Albus Dumbledore said that we need to be united and that's what I'm trying to do."

"What does Harry Potter think of this?" Megan asked.

Hermione set down the tea cup that she had and surveyed Megan with a stern look.. "Well, you can ask Harry. I don't speak for him, after all."

"The two of you were rather close when you were at Hogwarts," Megan said. "There were some that thought that you were dating."

Hermione snorted. "Honestly…..I didn't see that working out. Harry is too headstrong for the type of relationship that I see myself in. And, I'm happy with the work that I've done, so there's really no time for me to be in a relationship."

"I understand that after the war, you left and went to Australian," Megan said. "And you were gone for nine months."

"Who told you that?" Hermione asked.

"So, you're not denying that's true," Megan fired. She could sense that she struck onto something hot. "And Harry and Ginny Weasley decided to leave for a tour on the world, before returning to Britain. They completed their NEWTs, and Harry acquired the highest marks since Tom Riddle, or Voldemort, I suppose. Ginny wasn't too far behind. And when you took your NEWTs…"

"School examinations are subjective," Hermione replied curtly. "But to answer your question, I went to Australian for nine months. I didn't intend to be gone that long, but I was and I returned, to finish my time at Hogwarts. After I did, I was offered a job as the Senior Undersecretary, under Minister Shacklebolt."

"Under the strong recommendation of Horace Slughorn," Megan repeated.

"Slughorn gave a recommendation," Hermione answered. Her tone became coarser. "And in the past two years, I've accomplished what I've accomplished."

"Harry Potter has not been seen in public since the Lestrange incident," Megan said.

"He was at the Ministry of Magic just two days ago," Hermione informed her. "The thing that you got to know about Harry is that he marches to his own beat. This wouldn't be the first time that he went off on a mission without informing his superior about it."

"So, you're not concerned?" Megan asked.

"The thing that you have to realize about Harry Potter is you don't need to be concerned about him, because he always finds his way out of whatever trouble he puts himself in," Hermione said. "I'm certain you'll meet him all too soon."

Megan got her quote down.

"Just one more question," Megan said.

"This isn't anything about Harry Potter, is it?" Hermione asked.

"No, it's about another friend of yours from Hogwarts," Megan said. "Luna Lovegood….she was found in the wilderness by hikers, dead, poisoned."

There was a long pause, before the brunette answered.

"That's a real shame and I'm sorry that Luna had to end up that way," Hermione said. She slid her glasses off, and pinched her nose. "She had her own unique perspective on the world, but this world has a way of disregarding people who don't fit to their norms. I know that better than anyone and understand."

"Can the Ministry shed any light on what happened?" Megan asked.

Hermione nodded. "Best we can tell, is that she was searching for one of the extraordinary and rare magic creatures, only to find one that wasn't that friendly at all. And she sadly perished because of it. It's really a shame."

"Yes, it is," Megan said in a somber voice. "I want to thank you for your time. And I have to say that it's good to finally see a Senior Undersecretary who isn't trying to start a war with every magical creature rare out there."

"Yes, Madam Umbridge…her opinions were strong and she wasn't shy about expressing them," Hermione said. Her response was diplomatic, like the politician she had become.

"But, she still works at the Ministry?" Megan asked.

"Ex-Minister Fudge made some curious choices with the nature of the contracts he gave some of his supporters on his staff," Hermione replied stiffly. That was not counting that the strongest evidence regarding Umbridge's many crimes had gone missing and she claimed that she was just following orders. "I have had her personally reassigned to the Centaur Liaison Office. I have a meeting, and my security will see you out, Miss Jones."

Megan nodded. "Thank you for your time."

She stepped out, her head buzzing with more questions, than she got answers. Megan was looking into the mysterious Lovegood death, despite some warnings not to bite that particular hand. The Ministry's official investigation did declare it to be a tragic death.

She wouldn't have taken this job, if she thought that it was going to be a safe and secure job. Megan made her way from the lift.

She had the strangest thought that someone was following her or at least trying to keep an eye on her. It caused her to shudder when she looked over her shoulder.

' _No one there, you're just being paranoid,'_ Megan thought. She blew the lock of hair out from away from her face.

She disappeared with a slight pop, to write the story. It appeared to be more of the same from the Ministry. It gave the people more questions and didn't give them a chance to appease any of the many answers.

* * *

Harry stretched his muscles. He was recovering nicely from his latest death.

' _Only in my life could that statement make any kind of sense,'_ Harry said. He closed his eyes and made the movement in his hand.

He could do magic, that was a good sign. It just felt different how he was channeling it. Transfiguration came fairly easy to him, which was a change for some reason. Charms, that was a bit harder. Curses, hexes, and jinxes, those were giving Harry a wonderful amount of fits. And he didn't even touch upon the more advanced magic like Rune creation.

Harry turned around and made a motion with his hand. The candles in the room lit up. He withdrew his hand and he extinguished them.

"And to think, you didn't set yourself on fire."

Nyssa turned up at the doorway and Harry turned towards her. "I think that part of the problem was that I was trying that spell with the stick in my hand. Or maybe I was intentionally not trying to set things on fire. Therefore, if I perform actual fire spells, I won't set myself on fire."

"Interesting theory," Nyssa said. "So, Cassandra informs me that you are work as part as the Ministry's law enforcement department, Aurors I believe they're called."

"Yes," Harry confirmed. "To be fair, I spend more time finding the Ministry's administration, than I do fighting actual criminals."

The more things change, the more things stay the same.

"You're not satisfied with your calling in life," Nyssa said.

"Well, to be fair, it was something that I latched onto when I was fourteen years old," Harry said. "A minion of one of most hated enemies disguised as a grizzled Auror was the one that planted the seed in my mind. I thought that I could use my fame and influence to put the Ministry on a different course."

"Yes, the best intentions often do go awry," Nyssa said. "So, you must have had some training, to defend yourself?"

"Some," Harry said. "I tried to get some better training arranged then stand there and fire a spell."

It went without saying that didn't really work.

"But I've picked up a couple of things, you have to with some of the problems I've dealt with," Harry replied. "I wouldn't consider myself a world class fighter though. But I think that I can hold my own."

Nyssa frowned. There was holding your own by the standards of a normal person and then there was holding your own by the standards of the League.

"Show me," Nyssa said. Harry frowned. "Attack me, but don't use magic."

Harry hitched in a breath. Accidental magic happened often when people allowed their emotions to get heightened. He thought that a destructive blast of magic could be a powerful weapon if he could learn to trigger and control those outbursts. There was that one time where he levitated an entire village and didn't know how he did it.

"Are you sure about this?" Harry asked.

"Attack me," Nyssa said.

Harry swung his fist forward. She caught it instinctively, and she turned him around. She shoved him down onto the ground and drove him face first onto the ground. Harry popped back up to his feet.

"Again," Nyssa said. She beckoned him forward. Harry went for another punch, but she blocked it and twisted him around. She flipped off of his chest and drilled him in the chest. She withdrew a blade and held it on his throat. "This is what they taught you?"

"Apparently, it was the very rudimentary basics," Harry commented.

"If you fought a stationary target, then it would be adequate," Nyssa said. She stepped forward and allowed him to get to his feet. "Most assassins are always on the move, even if you don't see them. You need to think about ten moves ahead of them, or your next move will be getting a knife in your neck."

Harry didn't want to break the news to her, but most magical users were those stationary opponents. Some varied up their offense and actually moved. Others thought those shield spells would always hold.

That actually allowed him to defeat more than one opponent. The shield spell protected the opponent's body, but the ground underneath him could be quite compromised.

"Try it again," Nyssa said.

Harry tried to punch her. She dodged him and turned around. She twisted his arm behind his back, but Harry rolled out. He tried to fire a series of rapid fire blows at her, but she blocked the attacks.

He stepped back, catching his breath. Harry narrowed his eyes and tried to judge her attack. Her next attack was a kick. Harry caught her leg and went behind her. He crossed her arms across her chest.

Nyssa drilled him in his knee cap with her foot and threw him off of her. She turned around, but Harry dodged her attacks, blocking at least half of them.

"You're learning," Nyssa said. Harry swept her legs out from underneath her. He bent down to grab her, but she flipped him over and she landed on top of him straddling him. "But, you still got a long way to go."

Harry gripped her elbow and squeezed it, before he turned her over. He was now on top of her, her hands pinned behind her back.

"Do tell," Harry commented. She struggled against him, but he had the advantage where he was. "You act like this is the first time you've been underneath a man."

"It's not an occurrence that I allow myself in," Nyssa said. Harry let her up and instantly, she bounced back up, trying to kick him in the chest. He got caught with a glancing blow and blocked a second blow. "And you shouldn't let up when you have an advantage, no matter how miniscule."

"Don't worry, I won't make that mistake again," Harry said. He grabbed her and took her down to the ground, pinning her arm behind her and putting all of the weight on her lower back. "So, what do you think of this position?"

Nyssa frowned. The taste of gravel was not something that she made a habit. She felt his hot breath at her ear.

There was someone clearing their throat and Harry slowly let up. He saw Cassandra standing in the doorway.

"Oh, Nyssa was showing me some of her moves," Harry answered. Cassandra raised her eyebrow.

"I'd hate to interrupt this, but…..The Demon's Head wishes an audience with Harry," Cassandra said.

"Next time, we'll finish this," Nyssa said. She looked into his green eyes. "Certainly."

Harry turned his attention towards Cassandra.

"Does he wish to meet with me now?" Harry asked.

"In one hour," Cass confirmed.

"Good, I'll see both of you then," Nyssa said. She walked off.

Cassandra waited for her to leave.

"So, what did you do to her?" Cass asked.

"I took her down twice," Harry said.

Cass whistled. "I'd say that you have an unfair advantage against her, but….that's still nothing to snort at."

Harry raised his eyebrow. "I was under the impression that Nyssa was…"

"Her preference leans towards women yet, but…..that could be due to lack of suitable options," Cass informed him.

"That wasn't what I was asking about," Harry said. That shed a new light on the small group of extremely devoted female servants though.

* * *

An hour later, right on the dot, Harry entered a room that was dimly lit. He saw Ra's Al Ghul sitting at a table, and he looked up to acknowledge him.

"Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived," Ra's said.

Harry never really got the magical world's insistence to hyphenate everything, but here he was. He stepped forward and sat down in front of Ra's. His servant looked towards him.

"Ubu, you may leave me," Ra's replied. The large man left the room like an obedient dog at the order of his master. "The Ubu clan has served me well for generations. I'm certain that you know enough about me to know of my longevity. You have seen the gifts that the Lazarus Pits have offered first hand."

"Yes, I have," Harry agreed.

"And, despite all that, despite my skills, and despite my usage of the Pits to prolong my life, eventually they will lose their effectiveness," Ra's said. "I've been able to turn back the clock through each immersion, but the precious time that I have acquired has been less. I have seen a world that will very likely outlive me, one day. I'm human, a very skilled human, but a human nevertheless."

Harry figured out that much.

"My life, for however many years I exist, is not of concern to you today, now is it?" Ra's asked. "You're at a crossroads. You have been reborn again."

Again was a term that Harry thought was appropriate. There was the Killing Curse at age one, where his mother's sacrifice had allowed him to get that title. There was the Chamber of Secrets where he was poisoned by the Basilisk, but the Phoenix tears dragged him back from death's embrace. There was his resurrection after being struck by the Killing Curse in the final battle against Voldemort. Then there was this latest time where he went through the veil, found his way back, and got healed with the Lazarus Pit.

"Yes, Ubu, let her join us," Ra's said.

Nyssa strode into the room and she took a seat right beside Harry.

"Forgive my lateness, Father," Nyssa said.

"You're not late, my daughter, Harry was merely early," Ra's said. "But, regardless, as we were discussing, you are at a crossroads."

"The Colony," Harry muttered. It clicked back into his mind. "The HIVE."

"Is it all coming back to you now?" Ra's asked.

Yes, the missing eight hours, they were slowly trickling back into Harry's mind.

"What is the HIVE?" Harry asked.

"A problem the League has not been able to satisfactory deal with," Ra's said. "I must take full responsibility for what happened to you. If I had not hesitated, he would have been killed, and none of this would have happened."

"You know, I'd like a name," Harry said.

Nyssa could not believe someone was that bold and that demanding towards her father. She actually feared what he would do for a brief moment.

"His name is Damien Darhk," Ra's said. "And he was the other candidate for the moniker that I now hold, by the former Ra's Al Ghul."

Harry had questions, but he allowed Ra's to finish.

"I was chosen and I was to kill him, so he didn't pose a threat," Ra's said. "But, I showed a moment of mercy. He repaid that mercy by escaping, killing two of my guards, and utilizing the Lazarus Pits to strengthen him. A small group of his devoted supports fled with him, to form the basis for his HIVE. And he extended his influence to your world, as a safeguard from me."

"His followers in that world are called the Colony," Harry muttered.

"Yes, fitting given that they are ants to him," Ra's informed him. "He had a select few of his followers that he granted preferred status to. One of them is only known as the Bumblebee."

Harry found this to be fascinating. An equally fascinating theory was forming in his head, and it would make so much of his life make so much more sense. As much sense as his life would make anyway.

"I have not been able to gather as much as I would have liked about the HIVE due to Darhk's planning," Ra's informed him. "He's been playing chess with me for centuries and he is a step ahead at all times."

"Mr. Damon," Harry said.

"I beg your pardon?" Ra's asked. He was caught unaware by this sudden outburst.

"The Lestrange brothers were collaborating with someone named Mr. Damon, and Zabini mentioned him as well," Harry commented. "Is it the man himself or some subordinate that is fairly high up?"

"I cannot say," Ra's said. It did seem like an obvious alias, but that could be the point. "As I mentioned before, you are at a crossroads. Darhk would have not tried to have you disposed of, unless he felt that your time in that world is at an end."

Harry wasn't sure if he bought that, but Ra's would know better about this man than Harry did.

"You have a choice," Ra's said. "You can leave Nanda Parbat without any incident. I have fulfilled the debt and I have no reason to hold you here."

Harry was curious about the other part of that statement.

"Or, you can choose to join the League of Assassins," Ra's replied. "I will not force your hand, but I will say this. You can accomplish a lot more in the League tan you would by trying to fight a system from within that won't let you win."

Time stood still and Harry considered this point.

"I won't be a follower," Harry said firmly.

"You misunderstand me," Ra's replied. His tone was calm and cool. "I do not wish you to be another follower, another cold blade that is an extension of my will. I wish you to join the League of Assassins and become my heir."

Ra's thought that trying to use the monster that Darhk created to destroy him would be poetic in some way.

Nyssa looked like she was going to say something, but she thought better of it when Harry's eyes briefly met hers. She frowned, but decided to choose her battles wisely, for the moment at least.

Ra's slowly extended his hand. It was now where Harry would either shake his hand or walk out that door. Either way, he would honor that decision.

The young man thought about it, weighing over the positives and the negatives. He knew now that there was one thing that he must do for the best interest of everyone involved, especially his own.

Harry rose to his feet and extended his hand. He grasped Ra's hand with a firm handshake.

"Welcome to the League of Assassins, Mr. Potter."

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: Chasing Death.**

* * *

Instinct ruled Harry Potter more than logic. Logic seldom worked in the fact of all of the trials and tribulations he had. If he thought about some of the things he did, logically he would have stepped away from the Wizarding World years ago and left them to their own devices. He would have never came back to get his NEWTs. He would have never believed the prophecy and persisted in fighting Voldemort if logic played a role in what he did.

Granted, he kind of didn't believe in that stupid prophecy, but Voldemort did and that was good enough to make it real.

Yet, for the first time, Harry made a deal that was entirely motivated by logic as much as instinct. People might question his decision to become the heir of Ra's Al Ghul. Those were people who didn't see what he saw.

"You should have walked away."

Harry saw Nyssa approach him from behind. He got to his feet, and faced her. "Do you say this out of any kind of concern for what might happen to me or concern that you have been overlooked by your father?"

Nyssa frowned. "I don't know where you got that impression."

Harry shook his head. He was willing to humor her for now. "Just a hunch that I had. I could be mistaken."

Nyssa wasn't willing to say that he didn't. He turned his back on her.

"Why would you do this?" Nyssa asked him.

Harry watched the members of the League train. So many men who were technically dead, but their bodies still functioned like someone who was alive. The women seemed a lot better adjusted for some reason, but Harry wasn't going to speculate as to why. Granted, it was completely split across gender lines, but still that was wrong.

"Your father will be dead someday."

Nyssa blinked at his blunt statement. "Well, that much goes without saying. The Lazarus Pit prolongs life, but eventually it ceases being potent over time. He told you that his trips are more frequent and the pit is less long lasting."

"He knows that his time is at an end," Harry commented. He acted in a strange mood, when he carefully watched them. "He knows that he will die within the next decade, perhaps sooner, perhaps slightly later. The only control he has left is how that will happen."

Harry saw Cass join them right there. She was looking to him curiously.

"You think that I made the wrong decision, don't you?"

Cass blinked and she shrugged her shoulders. "I think that you made the decision that you feel is best for you."

Harry kept his eyes on the League members who were fighting with each other. It was a bit painful to watch so many people marked for death, but he couldn't turn away.

"I leave and return. What do I do?"

That question was so vague and so loaded at the same time.

"I've been that world's pariah as much as I've been its hero," Harry continued. "It's tested what I could do. They hate me, until they need me. It's one of the worst passively abusive relationships that anyone could be in."

Harry also thought that there was another point. Despite the fact that Ra's informed him that this was his choice, Harry wasn't convinced that it was. He didn't much fancy fighting both HIVE and the League, along with the court of public opinion that would hang him on sheer principle, on his own.

"The reason why you were there was that Ra's had his eyes set on me for a long time," Harry said.

"It was as much to keep an eye out for any HIVE involvement," Cass argued. "But the stories of your exploits have reached certain corners of the world. Your world is not as hidden as they would like to be."

"The veil chips away with each passing year," Nyssa explained. "And the more they pull it back, the more they risk exposing themselves."

Harry thought that was extremely perceptive and he agreed. The decades, centuries, of deception were going to bite the Ministry eventually. He understood the reasons perfectly, but the world was changing.

"My father has tasked me with training you," Nyssa informed him. "At least for the first stages of your training."

Nyssa managed to hold her tongue for the next point, but her father did love his ironies. As long as she was part of the League, she still had to obey his will. Even though she sensed a much stronger will seeping into the control of the League, even though he didn't realize that yet.

Harry watched the battle. It seemed like he was just casually watching things, but in reality, his mind was mentally analyzing the movements of each League member, how they fought, and what their weakest spots was. He was mentally picking apart holes in their defenses.

"Sounds fine to me, Nyssa," Harry said.

"And I'll help her," Cass said. "We should….do it on neutral ground, at least until Harry has the basics down."

Nyssa nodded. "My father thought the same thing."

Harry watched one of the assassins. Something flashed in his eyes. It was brief, but he got it.

"Is there a problem?" Nyssa asked.

"Not for me, but he will be dead in three days," Harry said, pointing out one of the assassins."Assassination attempt gone wrong and stabbed with his own sword. He's a bit of a death seeker, so he welcomes it."

Nyssa didn't quite know what to make of that. She cleared her head. "Before, we start, there's someone that you need to see, if I'm not mistaken."

"Right," Harry agreed. "She must be going spare right now."

"I can confirm that she is," Cass said.

Ra's Al Ghul stood to observe his assassins and observe his daughter, speaking with Harry Potter. Soon, he would be in this place, leading the League. It was a tradition passed down through countless generations; countless men have held this moniker for as long back as written records could go.

His work was not done though. There was still one matter of importance. He could not rest until Damien Darhk's head was mounted on a pike for the world to see.

* * *

Ginny wondered if she was just waiting to be killed. She wouldn't be surprised if she was. The good news was that she was fully recovered except for the extremely annoying fact that she didn't have magic.

The bad news was that she had not seen Harry in what seemed like a long time, but it most likely would have been a couple of days.

A knock on the door put Ginny on alert. _'Well an assassin wouldn't knock on the door, if they wanted to kill me but...'_

The door opened and Ginny was ready to attack, even if it got her creamed. She tried to punch whoever it was who went through the door, but the person caught her arm.

It took her a couple of seconds to realize that it was Harry standing there before her. Mostly because she half expected to never see Harry again.

"Harry?" Ginny asked. She blinked and he nodded. "Tell me something that only the real Harry Potter would know."

Harry chuckled, but he smiled. "Our first time together was on my bed in the dormitory with your brother about ten feet away, snoring away, oblivious to anything that happened. The snoring almost killed the mood, but that's why silencing charms were invented. You couldn't walk for two days."

"But it was well worth it," Ginny muttered. She threw herself at him and kissed the ever living hell out of him.

Ginny tensed up when she pulled away from Harry. Mostly because she saw the girl that was posing as Su Li and a second girl, who was looking at her with a mild amount of curiosity.

"And you must be Ginny," the girl commented.

"Yes, I am," Ginny said. She turned towards the girl and raised her eyebrow. "And you are?"

"Nyssa Al Ghul," Nyssa said. "The daughter of….."

"Ra's Al Ghul," Ginny muttered. She was looking over Nyssa and it was almost like she was undressing her with her eyes. "I wasn't aware that he spawned…..well I assume that you got your mother's looks."

Nyssa gave her a slight shadow of a smile.

"And I'm obviously not Su Li," Cassandra said. "Cassandra Cain, it's a pleasure to meet you, for real."

"Yes," Ginny said. "Sorry about….."

Cass waved off her apologies. "It was understandable, you were worried."

"So what's this all about?" Ginny asked.

Nyssa turned to Harry. "I suppose that you want to do the honors in telling your wife."

Harry cleared his throat and jumped in. "Ra's Al Ghul offered me a deal to be his heir."

Ginny blinked. That was pretty low on the list of things that she expected to hear.

"And I agreed."

And that was even lower on the list of things that she expected to hear. Ginny considered Harry. She sensed that there was something different about him since being resurrected. His aura was more powerful than ever before and it was nothing to sneeze at before. She could feel a chill go down her spine when she looked into his eyes, always enchanting.

"I think that I better start at the beginning," Harry said.

* * *

Hermione Granger walked up to the front door of the Burrow. It didn't really change that much over the years. She was here for a purpose.

The scent of home cooking greeted her when she arrived. She knocked on the door.

The door opened and Molly Weasley poked her head outside of the door. Her expression went wide eye and she smiled. "Hermione, dear, it's good to see you!"

Molly wrapped her arms around Hermione, forcing her into a tight hug, nearly squashing her like a bug. Hermione tried in vain to slip away as her face was pressed against Molly's bosom.

"Hello, Mrs. Weasley, I decided to drop by and see how you were doing," Hermione said. She slipped inside the house.

"Fine, I've been busy," Molly said.

Hermione saw piles and piles of knitted sweaters on the ground. She could tell that Molly had been busy.

"No one seems to want to stop by anymore, I don't know why. Arthur has been keeping insane hours at work, the Ministry is working him so hard. And Ron has been bouncing between the joke shop and the Ministry, and…..well it's been extremely hectic."

Hermione nodded in agreement. She was looking for something of interest. "That's nice, Mrs. Weasley."

"I'll just be glad, when we can settle down, like one big Happy Weasley family like it should be," Molly said. She sat down. "You know, dear, you've been working yourself too hard at the Ministry. You should really think about settling down, finding yourself a nice wizard. Perhaps, you can give Ron a second chance?"

Hermione wrinkled her nose. "I find that my work conflicts too much with relationships."

Molly shook her head. "You really aren't getting any younger, Hermione. You should really think about your future."

Hermione frowned. She had this conversation with Molly before in the past.

"Molly, what happened to your clock?"

Molly was half paying attention, knitting yet another sweater. "Mmm…oh the clock dear….well that old thing….it stopped working."

"It stopped working?" Hermione asked.

Molly frowned when she gave her hopeful future daughter-in-law a look. "It isn't that uncommon though. The clock has been with our family for generations. It was sad to part with it when we did….and the person who made it has long since passed on and no one has been able to reduplicate his work."

"Sorry to hear about that," Hermione said. Her shoulders shrugged in disappointment. "I just remembered….I have some urgent paperwork at the Ministry to take care of."

Molly frowned. "But, its Christmas Eve….you shouldn't have to….then again, they're working Arthur hard too. And I'm sure that Harry is working there as well."

Hermione nodded. "I've got to go, you have a Merry Christmas, Mrs. Weasley."

She turned around and walked off. She left Molly Weasley all alone. Like she had been since her husband died of a magical disease around a year ago and all of her children left her when she tried to micro-manage every aspect of her life. She was always controlling, but she went off the deep end after her husband died and she was deep in denial.

"Poor Arthur," Molly muttered. "Always being forced to work late at the Ministry. He'll come home someday, and our children will come back."

She didn't even notice that Hermione was gone. She kept knitting sweaters and humming underneath her breath.

Hermione disappeared with a slight pop.

* * *

Ginny whistled. It was a lot to take in, she managed, somehow. "So, I know what lead up to it, but I want to know one thing. Why?"

Harry took a long drink of the tea that he made himself.

"I'm sick of being at a disadvantage," Harry said. "I go back there, and I know that I'm going to be the bad guy somehow. History repeats itself."

"And those who fail to learn from history's mistakes are doomed to repeat them," Ginny added shrewdly. "So, what are you going to do about Zabini?"

Harry pondered that over his cup of tea.

"I'll get the training that I need. Then I'm coming back for my wand and his head."

"Does that answer your question?" Nyssa asked.

Funnily enough that did. Ginny could see Harry make some very subtle movements with his hand and he performed some spectacular magic.

"You don't need a wand, though," Ginny said.

"I don't think that I ever did," Harry replied. "I think that it held me back, stopped me from fulfilling my full potential."

That didn't mean that he didn't want it back. It was his personal property even though he had no use or need for it.

"For all intents and purposes, you realize Harry Potter, as we know him, is dead," Ginny replied. Harry looked towards her. "I'm not an idiot, Harry."

Harry smiled. "I never said that you were. And the Harry Potter the world knew is in fact dead, mostly because he never truly existed in the first place."

Ginny understood that. The legend of the Boy-Who-Lived was something that she bought into once upon a time. She wasn't the only one who bought into it however. Pretty much everyone had bought into that and put Harry on a pedestal that was shaky ground at best.

"This is my moment," Harry informed her.

Ginny nodded. She understood what Harry was talking about.

"I thought at first that the long term exposure to the Horcrux might have addled your brain," Ginny said. She reached forward and placed her hand on his.

Harry knew that he neglected to mention something. "Actually that damage is gone. Along with the ill-fated misconfigured blood protections, and a few other problems. The basilisk venom running through my veins along with the Phoenix tears should have done something else to me as well. And who knows what other secrets linger within my DNA that have been yet to uncover."

"You're nothing like anyone has ever seen," Ginny said. "So, what happens to me now?"

That was a question that was loaded.

"I mean, I can't go back to the Wizarding World. Zabini and his flunkies would kill me the moment I stepped out in public. And there's really nowhere in the Muggle World I can go either. And….I'm not sure if I can go with you."

"And what makes you think that you can't?" Nyssa asked.

That particular statement caught Ginny completely off guard as well. "I thought….."

"You assumed that Harry would just abandon you?" Cass asked.

"No, I didn't think that Harry would abandon me," Ginny said. She would never think something like that. "It's just that….there might be certain trials that he might go through, that would further remove him from the man that I married. Even if I'm not ready to give him up without a fight, I don't think it will be an easy fight. But, I suppose that you're going to have to kill me, then, and just spare me the misery!"

Nyssa was impressed by her passion. It was the type of fire that she wanted in her elite guard.

"It seems to me that you're in a similar boat," she declared to her. "You're no longer the same person that you were completely. Magic was a big part of your identity, but it's now gone, isn't it?"

Ginny pondered and nodded. That much was true. She had wanted to learn magic ever since she was old enough to know something. And now that was completely gone.

"My position in the League offers me a certain amount of levity to make decisions, providing I could justify them," Nyssa added. "Therefore, while I'm training Harry for his role, if Cassandra is willing, she could help train you for a role in the League."

"You're serious about this?" Ginny asked.

Nyssa nodded in agreement. "I wouldn't jest about such a thing."

Ginny thought about it. Actually there wasn't that much to think about. There was either this, or pretty much get thrown out to the wolves. She was still bound to Harry, like she had been ever since her first year. Granted, it was passive until they grew much older, but still.

Cassandra decided to add her own two cents. "You're loyal to Harry; therefore you're an asset that the League needs for the future. Nyssa's father has his own loyalists and now….."

"I will need to cultivate a group of people that would carry out my future vision of the League," Harry said.

Nyssa was surprised. "You've given this much thought, I take it."

"Much thought, more thought that I think that your father would have expected," Harry said. "So, Ginny, what's your choice?"

"Do I have a choice?" Ginny asked.

"Always," Harry said. "You could have said no to anything, and I would have respected your decision. I would have been disappointed, but I would have respected it."

Ginny reached forward and grabbed his hand. "The answer would have been the same, whether I was bound to you, or not. And the answer is yes."

Where else would she have to go? What else would she have to do? That was a pretty good question to be honest.

"One final thing," Nyssa said. Ginny raised her eyebrow. "I believe that my father intends to arrange for Harry to marry me. It's a traditional going back centuries, if the previous Ra's Al Ghul has a daughter, she is to be married to future head of the League. I hope that this would not cause any difficulties for you."

Ginny decided to turn her attention towards Harry. "You know, people have been trying to give you a harem since you were about six years old. I guess all of those girls that I brought home, or you brought home kind of don't really count because they're one night stands and all that."

"What are you talking about?" Nyssa asked.

"There were Harry Potter storybooks, because of Harry's fame in our world after his mother sacrificed herself and Voldemort fell," Ginny explained. The fact her mother read them to her as a child might classify as emotional child abuse in hindsight. "Let's just say they took some creative liberties and leave it at that."

"You know, I never really read any of those Harry Potter storybooks," Harry said.

Ginny gave a full body shudder. "It's for the best you don't. They're really bloody atrocious to be honest. And I bet you never got any royalties."

Harry shook his head. Ginny thought about as much, but she wasn't sure.

* * *

A woman with a hood pulled up over her face walked down the streets of Diagon Alley. Christmas had passed a couple of days ago and soon it would break open that Harry Potter was missing.

She stopped when she saw Blaise Zabini and two of his subordinates waiting in a dark alley. She stepped towards him.

Zabini looked up at her with a contemptuous sneer. "You're late."

"I would be on time, if I didn't have to clean up your blunder," the woman in the hood said. "And your blunder could have exposed anything."

"It didn't," Zabini said. "Potter's dead."

"And now, people are going to start asking questions," the hooded woman said. "Even more so when Ginny Weasley doesn't come back after the Holyhead Harpies resume practice after the first of the year. You should have placed her body in a public place….make it look like an attack gone bad."

Zabini's tone grew nastier. "Waltz your perfect little arse into the Department of Mysteries then, get her body, and plant it somewhere, if you think you know it all."

She decided to drop a bombshell. "It's gone."

Zabini nearly dropped the package he was holding. Thankfully, he didn't, because this plan would have been ruined. "What do you mean she's gone?"

"She's nowhere in the Department of Mysteries," the woman with the hood confirmed. "And I couldn't verify whether she was dead or she was missing or injured."

It didn't really matter to Zabini. Even if she did surprise, she would be a squib. Therefore she would be no threat whatsoever to him or any other magic user.

Zabini pondered his next question. "What about the veil?"

"The veil is still where it is where it's always been," she responded. "But, then again, the Department of Mysteries was built over the top of it. I don't know what happened to Harry, but if he returns….."

Zabini interrupted the drone in an even nastier tone. "I'll finish him off. He's nothing. The only reason he was special because he was groomed to solve a problem and he has solved it."

The drone felt exasperated and only barely restrained herself from strangling this smug little shit. Zabini would never get it and the rest of the Colony, never mind the HIVE, would never get it either. Harry Potter was a threat and unless they could verify he was dead, he still was a threat.

Conventional wisdom stated he should have been dead multiple times over. He and Voldemort were supposed to take each other out.

"Make sure you don't screw this part of the plan up."

"Yes, your highness," Zabini said. His teeth gritted so hard that they hurt.

Thankfully, she left. Zabini would prove that he was needed. He hung outside, and waited for the signal, as his two associations played their role in the plan. They were expendable and were unlikely to return.

There was a scuffle and an alarm had been raised. The two expendables had been caught trying to break into one of the high security vaults.

The goblins were distracted and Zabini slipped inside. It was far easier to plant something inside the bank; far easier than taking something out at any rate.

The package was lifted and a crystal clear vial of fluid was released. Zabini uncorked the vial and dumped it into one of the fountains in the lobby.

A transparent mist rose from the air and hovered, unseen to the naked eye as it circled around the bank. The effects would not be obvious for some time, but that was the point.

* * *

Ra's rose to his feet and acknowledged Nyssa walking towards him.

"Father," Nyssa commented.

"You understand your role, don't you?" Ra's asked.

She nodded. "Yes."

"I never thought that I would be in the position to choose an heir that was a template," Ra's said. "But, you can get him up to scratch with the skills that he will need. And then his real training begins."

"Yes," Nyssa agreed. "With your blessing, I have brought his bonded into the fold."

"Ah, yes, Ginerva Potter," Ra's said. He knew exactly who his daughter was talking about, but he wouldn't be who he was if he didn't do his homework on potential heirs. "Her presence could motivate him and be used as leverage to ensure that he doesn't waver."

"She asked me to train her, because she has lost her ability to perform magic," Nyssa said.

There was a long amount of time that passed. Nyssa never failed to become uncomfortable when her father was silent like this.

"And you agreed," Ra's said. "Very well, I trust your judgment as always, as long as this doesn't present a conflict of interest."

Nyssa spoke calmly. "It won't."

She shifted her glance away from her father, not looking him in his eyes. She caught sight of a slain warrior that was laid out on a slab, about to be prepared for burial.

"He has fallen," Ra's told his daughter. "The man he was tasked to kill turned the tables on him, and he was stabbed with his own sword."

Nyssa nodded. "A pity."

"Do not mourn him, he has served his time, with the League, as many have before him. His purpose has been fulfilled"

* * *

Nyssa insisted that Harry got some sleep before he headed out on his journey, because he was going to need it.

He blinked and he was on a ship now.

If he would hazard a guess, this was the same ship that haunted his dreams at least twice right now. He peered over the ship and saw the words "Queen's Gambit" written over the sign.

He had enough information to realize that this wasn't likely happening in the present. Was it the past or was it the future? It was sometime in the late spring, maybe early summer, wherever Harry was. It was hard to tell though.

Suddenly, the ship was rocked. Harry's footing stood on the ship. He could hear screams, and suddenly the ship got rocked by something, again and again.

Someone fell over the ship. Harry tried to grab the person, but his hand passed through everything that he tried touch.

Harry blinked, and he found himself standing in the middle of the graveyard again. This time, he mentally counted in his head.

' _Three, two, one, game on.'_

Harry turned around and saw a robed figure. He darted towards her, but she slipped out of his grasp.

"Not this time," Harry said. He closed his eyes.

This was his dream, and he was the one that had control. Ropes shot out of the ground and bound the arms and the legs of the woman in question together.

Harry pulled back the hood. The enchanting raven haired woman looked back at him, with a smile on her face and her dark eyes looking back at him. Her pale skin shined in the moonlight of the graveyard. Her breasts heaved when she was caught.

"Just who are you?" Harry asked.

She laughed, and she tried to slip away, but Harry held her into place. She spoke in a highly refined British accent. "Come on Harry, think about it. Who are you?"

"I'm the Master of Death," Harry said suddenly.

"Not quite yet," she informed him.

"You're….Death," Harry muttered.

She nodded. "Yes….and you found the keys that I left on Earth all of those centuries ago. I'm sure that you've got questions."

Harry laughed. It was an understatement that he had questions.

Death tried to slip out of Harry's grasp. He grabbed her and forced her down to her knees. A primal look flashed through his eyes.

"Twenty one years, you've been denied your full potential," Death said. She was down on her knees and her nipples poked extremely hard from underneath her shirt. "Both by others and by yourself. You've held yourself back, denied yourself what you wanted, haven't you?'

Death tried to rise to her feet, but Harry forced her back down to her knees one more time.

"Oh, do you want me to do something?" she asked him. She spoke in a little girl voice.

Harry stopped fighting what he wanted. "It's time for you to serve your master."

* * *

Harry opened his eyes and recalled that dream. It started out as another game of cat and mouth, but then it ended more interesting. He finally embraced what it truly meant to master Death.

He was changed and at another time, Harry would have feared those changes. Today, he embraced those changes and it felt good to be unchained, whether it was a dream or not.

"Sir, can I get you anything?"

A pale skinned brunette popped her head into the room. She looked like the dead ringer to the woman, Death, how she looked in his dreams. She spoke in the same elegant British accent. She wore assassin's garb that fit around her lithe frame rather nicely.

"Mistress Nyssa sent me to keep a watch on you, and I heard sounds," she said. She walked over towards him, her curtain of jet black hair swinging over her face. "Are you alright?"

"Just a little disoriented," Harry said.

"Yes, with the type of dream you must have had, I'd imagine so," the brunette informed him. She smiled knowingly. "You still have a few more hours before your journey begins."

Harry nodded. "I'll let you know if I need anything….."

The enchanting raven haired brunette spoke. "Paige."

"Right, thank you, Paige," Harry said. "I'll let you know."

She turned around and Harry caught a glimpse of her ass. Yes, she was a dead ringer, even down to that.

Things were getting more interesting and the more answers Harry thought that he had, he in reality had less.

' _Curious,'_ Harry thought. He wondered where Ollivander was right now, because he was sure channeling his spirit.

Curious, indeed.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**

* * *

 _ **There's an a-hem, extended cut of the scene with Harry mastering Death on my alternate author profiles. Which are clearly and concisely linked on my profile page, and anyone who can't find them...well I honestly don't know what to tell you. Remember, it's your choice to read the extended cut or not. If certain kinds of content bothered you, then you'd best stick with the Dot Net content. Not sure how often those extended cuts will happen, but I'll try to remember to note where they did.  
**_

 _ **Those who are old readers of mine should know this by now, naturally, but figured I'd give any adventurous newer readers the heads up for that material that might not cut the mustard with the old Dot Net S and P.**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: Controversy.**

* * *

Harry woke up the next morning. The vivid dream he experienced during the last evening was still fresh in his mind. He got dressed, thinking about it. His mind was oddly clear to be honest, clearer than it had been.

"Come in, Nyssa," he called.

Nyssa crossed the doorway for a moment. She was quite pleased that he was up and he was dressed. He was taking this extremely seriously.

"It's good to see that you're ready," Nyssa said.

Harry greeted her with a smile, "It's going to be a long journey, so I think that it was best that I would be ready. The sooner we leave, the sooner I get better trained."

"If only more were that willing to learn, things would be a lot easier," Nyssa said.

The truth was that people were willing to learn, eventually. They committed themselves to the entire League and they trained with every single waking moment of their life. They become great warriors, but they were nothing but another number in an army. They lost sense of themselves.

Many of the people who came here, they had lost purpose and was trying to find it. They had nothing left to loose.

Cass arrived with them. She had a bag draped over her shoulder, of the supplies that they would need. She was pleased to see that Harry had packed just as well.

"It's a journey," Cass reminded him. "You won't be able to teleport there I'm afraid, although we can still do that to the safe house and pick up Ginny."

Harry shrugged. He didn't really mind not traveling with magic. Sure it made his life a lot easier to have it, but this was fine too. He wanted to prove that he could handle himself without it. And teleporting three people to wherever this place was, might be more draining on himself.

"It's fine," Harry said. "I'm ready, let's do this."

Harry, Cass, and Nyssa left the temple. Nyssa's guard lined up and paid their respects to her when she passed. Harry was looking for one particular member, but their faces were covered. He frowned, that might not be the best idea to deal with people who had their faces covered. That might leave them open for deception and perhaps infiltration.

"Is there a problem?" Nyssa asked.

Harry frowned, "The masks…..I understand wearing them when you're on an assassination mission, but inside the temple. Do we really need to hide from people in that way?"

"It's more of a symbol, honestly," Nyssa said. She wasn't really pleased with it and she could almost tell the point that her father. "To show their face would put a human behind the assassin and that's not what we want."

"It would be easy for a crafty assassin who is the enemy of the league to pose as a member to infiltrate and disrupt things," Harry said. "You got to be prepared for that."

Nyssa frowned. She agreed with him on this point. The only difference between the League members was the armor that signified rank, and male and female members.

"We'll discuss this more later," Nyssa said. "I'm sure that once you've ascended, you have some ideas of the future legacy of the League. You do offer a refreshing perspective."

Her father had been part of the League for a long time, perhaps too long. He was set in an old school mindset and was a traditionalist.

The three of them walked up to the safe house. It was time to pick up Ginny and they would be well on their way.

* * *

The New Year was here and Hermione Granger walked down the hallways to the Ministry of Magic office. She had been working around the clock, picking up the slack that others in the Ministry who didn't have her hard work ethic neglected to do.

She saw a figure sweeping across the hallway. Kingsley Shacklebolt got more than a few grey hairs ever since ascending to the post of Ministry of Magic, but he was still as formidable as his days was as Auror.

"Miss Granger," Kingsley said. "Do I think that I can have a quick word with you?"

"Of course," Hermione said. "What do you need to see me about, Minister?"

Kingsley led Hermione down the hallway and didn't answer her at first. The man looked to be worn out. It was obvious to Hermione that his Christmas season was not one of yuletide and joy any more than his was.

He took her for a walk around the Ministry and they went into a little used office. Kingsley was looking around and he made sure the doors were shut.

"Sorry, Miss Granger, but you can never be too careful," Kingsley said.

"Security concerns aren't getting any better?" Hermione asked.

"No, they aren't…..someone had to tell the Lestrange brothers about that raid and that someone came from within the Ministry," Kingsley said. "And, Mr. Potter appears to have vanished off of the face of the Earth."

"I thought that he was just on a holiday," Hermione replied.

"That's what the official word coming out of the Minister's office is right now, he's on an extended leave of absence, pending the investigation," Kingsley said. "The investigation is ongoing, but he hasn't been seen since before the Christmas holidays."

Hermione nodded, "This is bad news, sir."

"Very bad news, Miss Granger," Kingsley said. "You haven't heard anything about him, have you?"

"No, Minister, I haven't," Hermione said. She frowned. "But, I'm sure that Harry will turn up. He's likely getting himself into some kind of trouble, like he always does."

Kingsley responded with a long sigh and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He conjured a rag to do it more obviously, "I'm afraid that you're correct, Miss Granger."

Hermione nodded and looked at the Minister, "Is that everything?"

"Yes," Kingsley said. "I will keep you up to date if I hear anything regarding him. Also, we have an Unspeakable from the Department of Mysteries missing."

"Who?" Hermione asked.

"Su Li, she was a Ravenclaw in your year, if I'm not mistaken," Kingsley said.

"Do you think that she has something to do with Harry's disappearance, Minister?" Hermione asked.

Kingsley didn't commit to a response either way, but Hermione did plant that seed of interest in his head, regarding what role Su Li played. There was also at least one witness who swore they saw a glimpse of Harry heading down to the Department of Mysteries and with the mysterious Ravenclaw missing, it did seem incriminating to be honest.

"We hope to get the Department of Mysteries to open up their doors for a full investigation," Kingsley said. "The Unspeakables have been reluctant to allow anyone down there that isn't cleared."

Hermione looked at him, "But sir, you're the Minister of Magic, surely you can encourage them to not get in your way with the investigation?"

"No, Hermione," Kingsley said firmly. "We can't go down this road. Bending the rules because you're the Minister is the same thing that caused Fudge's downfall and many men greater then him. We want people to regain confidence in the Ministry and not lose it. And you're doing a great job with your effort."

Hermione smiled and she looked rather pleased with herself and the great accomplishments that she made. Who wouldn't be? The best was yet to come as far as she was concerned.

She parted ways with the Minister of Magic. For most inside this office ,it was just another day for them. They had believed the rumors that Harry Potter was taking an extended leave of absence from the Ministry.

It would only pacify people for so long. Hermione crossed the Ministry and made her way up to her office. There was a note on her desk, waiting for her.

 **Same time. Same place, my busy little worker bee.**

* * *

Megan Jones smelled a rat when she interviewed Hermione Granger before Christmas, and she smelled an even bigger rat after the first of the year. The official press release put out that Harry Potter was sent home stunk of cover up.

Sure, the sheep bought it and unfortunately, her supervisor at the Prophet bought it as well. She currently snuck in the Ministry, risking her job, her freedom, and most importantly her life.

Something was being covered up, and she didn't know what. It had to do with the mysterious death of Luna Lovegood. There were many things in the Quibbler that were completely and utterly outrageous.

The utterly outrageous also had that unfortunate ability to be true sometimes. And that's why Megan was here, sneaking inside Hermione Granger's office at the Ministry of Magic. She couldn't believe that she was sneaking into the office of the Senior Undersecretary of the Minister of Magic.

There was a locking spell and a couple of security spells. They were pretty by the book, and the trigger was obvious if you knew what you were doing.

Megan was confident she didn't hit the security spell. She stepped inside of the office and frowned when she looked around. So far, there was nothing, at least nothing obvious, that she could see at this point.

The filing cabinets were organized in a metilicious manner. They were organized, and Megan went through them. There was nothing, but the most mundane documents possible. She found what she was looking for, and that was the case file on the Lovegood desk.

Hermione's lunch hour was from eleven until noon, and she returned exactly at twelve o'clock on the dot. That gave Megan approximately three minutes and forty nine seconds to copy the documents from this folder.

She really wished that she had a chance to look around. The documents had copy-protection on them, that could be difficult.

Thinking outside the box, like a reporter, Megan pulled out a camera.

' _Colin Creevey, eat your heart out,'_ Megan thought. She snapped a few pictures of the documents and made sure to get both back and front of all pages.

One minute, seven seconds, one minute, six seconds. Megan put the files back into the cabinet and shut down. She slipped her camera back into her bag, and she made her way outside of the office, shutting the door behind her.

Megan broke out into a sprint when she made her way down the hallway. She really hoped that the Auror robes she borrowed from a retired Auror friend of her father's would work, along with the fake identification that she procured.

She was in the elevator and she was away from the Ministry.

Was it safe for her to breathe right now? She would know when she was in the Floo Network.

"Hands where we can see them, Miss Jones and turn around nice and easily."

Megan turned around and could see a group of wands trained on her. A group of Aurors were on her and one of them held a wand against her throat, "What did you take?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Megan said.

One of them grabbed her bag and went through it. A camera fell out, the camera with the pictures of the documents in the Lovegood file on it. Her camera exploded and there went her work.

"Trespassing on Ministry property and trying to photograph secret documents, we should…"

"Leave her be, she didn't see anything."

Hermione Granger returned and the Aurors turned around to look at her, "Let her go."

"What?" Megan and the lead Auror asked, both at the same time.

Megan didn't know why she was complaining about this.

"Let her go, it was a misunderstanding," Hermione said. "In fact, I'll do her one better and I'll show her the documents that she seeks."

She reached into her back and placed a copy of the documents down on the table. Megan walked over it, frowning, when Hermione spread them out.

"As you can see, this is the official word from St. Mungos," Hermione said. "Luna died from an animal sting, because the stinger was removed from her body. The venom had no known counter agent though."

Megan looked at the document. Everything was in order, almost too much in order.

"What can you tell me about Harry Potter?" Megan asked.

Hermione shook her head. People really did have a one track mind.

"He's on a leave of absence from the Ministry, if he isn't answering any owls, I'm afraid that's out of our control," Hermione said. "And a word of warning, Miss Jones, I'm choosing not to file charges this time, because I wouldn't want you to ruin your career by a simple mistake. There's really nothing to be gained by sneaking around and trying to stick your nose into matters that don't concern you."

Megan frowned. Pretty rich coming from her, given what she was rumored to get up to with Harry and the youngest Weasley son at Hogwarts, Megan couldn't recall his name off the top of her head. He didn't really do much of anything to be honest.

Hermione made her way closer to Megan and she backed her a bit against the wall, "Just remember, I did this favor for you. And remember, good things come to those who don't rock the boat."

Megan decided that she better leave before Hermione changed her mind. She thought that she would be screwed for sure.

Hermione watched the intrepid reporter leave. Her only crime was being inquisitive and trying to push things beyond what the public needed to know.

"Are you certain that we should let her leave?" one of the Aurors asked.

Hermione nodded, "Let her leave, she doesn't know anything confidential."

There was nothing kept up in her office other than the official Ministry documents.

* * *

Ginny considered herself to be extremely strong and durable. She would have to be with all that she underwent. It wasn't as much as some people, but it most certainly was not anything.

She struggled to make her way up the side of the mountain. Harry offered to help her, but Ginny refused to do so. She would make this journey on her own. The redhead had something to prove when she made her way up there.

"We're almost there," Nyssa said.

Ginny shook her head. Light at the end of the tunnel, maybe? She refused to let this bother her. She could see what appeared to be a temple on the top of the mountain. Off to the side of the mountain is a graveyard.

"You've both survived the journey," Cass said. "Not many have made it to the end."

Ginny stepped over what appeared to be a human skull. She noticed that more than anything.

"Okay, I'm okay," Ginny said. She held her head up.

Harry didn't seem to be that bothered by the journey. He was like a new man and Ginny could feel her heart skip a beat. Harry had a lot of potential before, but sadly some of it seemed unfulfilled.

Now he was tapping into that potential and Ginny could feel herself get strength from him. Despite the fact she had no magic of her own to speak of, or at least lacked the ability to properly channel it, Ginny felt the pleasure.

"Attack me," Cass said to Ginny.

"I beg your pardon?" Ginny asked. She had barely caught her breath.

"I said attack me!" Cass said a little more forcefully. She drew a dagger out at a rapid fire speed and nearly stabbed Ginny straight through the chest with it.

At the last second, Ginny dodged, just barely. Cass nailed her in the ribs with a kick when she was bent over and she picked up Ginny, lifting her off the ground. Ginny hit the ground extremely hard. Cass raised the dagger up and brought it down towards Ginny's throat.

It came an inch away from going right through her neck.

"A real attack, and you would have been dead," Cass said. She stepped back and allowed Ginny to get to her feet.

Ginny massaged the side of her neck.

"Do you think that was a bit much?" Harry asked her.

"No, I'm weak," Ginny said. "I have to be strong, if I'm willing to serve you."

Ginny had a bit of a submissive quality towards Harry due to the fact that she was bound towards him.

"That's your first lesson of many," Nyssa added. "The real training begins tomorrow."

The four of them made their way up into the temple.

"Everything appears to be in order," Nyssa said. "It's been a long time since anyone has been up here."

"How long?" Harry asked.

"Most decide to train on Nanda Parbat," Nyssa informed him. "You're a special case given your unique abilities."

She spotted Harry observing the others fighting when she had a chance. She would have to test him out later, but she had a theory of what he was doing. If it was right, it would make things more easily.

* * *

Harry's dreams were surprisingly normal tonight. And not just normal by his standards either. So naturally that made him extremely concerned.

His eye popped open and there was a blade that came down, slicing his pillow when he rolled to the side. He blocked the blade and flipped up out of the bed.

He saw a determined Nyssa standing there. She didn't miss a beat, rather she swung the sword she wielded at him once again.

Either she had lured him into a false sense of security and was trying to kill him, or she was testing him. Harry put even odds on either option. He avoided her attack and jumped out of the window.

Nyssa followed out the window with ease. Harry summoned a shield and blocked her sword. He dodged an attack and her sword clung against the rather solid shield.

Harry grabbed the weapon on the second swing and held onto it. He ripped it from her hands and kicked her into the stomach, doubling her over.

He had a sword in his hand. She had one as well, obviously some kind of backup weapon. Harry blocked her attack and took her legs out from underneath her.

Nyssa felt her legs tangled by some force. To be fair, she didn't set any ground rules for how this spar worked. Harry sent the sword he stole from her through her back up blade and shattered it from the impact.

Nyssa swept Harry's legs out from underneath him. Harry bounced up and got to his feet. He dodged two daggers and caught a third. He heated it up in his hand and flung it back at Nyssa. It caught her right in the arm, doubling her over onto the ground.

She had to step up her game and he jumped up. She caught his leg and slammed him down. Nyssa got to her feet, favoring her right arm from what Harry did to her. She threw herself towards him once again.

"Attacking me in my sleep, that wasn't too sporting of you," Harry said. He grabbed both her arms and put them behind her back, before forcing her down to her knees. "Was it, Nyssa?"

Nyssa struggled against him and she reared her head back, nailing him with a headbutt to his lip.

She rattled the back of her head, and she also busted open Harry's mouth. He gave her a bloody smile in response. She ran up the wall and flipped over his back. Harry spun around and caught the large chain that she tried to whip at him. Harry pulled her on in and slid between her legs.

Nyssa was flung head over heels onto her back. The next thing she knew, she was bound by the chain that she tried to take Harry with.

"Tied up and nowhere to go," Harry said. He crouched over her and kneeled beside her.

"Very good," Nyssa said. She kicked him in the knee cap and got to her feet. She whipped herself back against the wall and hooked the chain, before using her momentum to snap it. "But don't think that you have the advantage."

She picked up her pace with a series of rapid fire strikes. She was varying her attack and Harry couldn't rely on the attack patterns that he picked up. She feigned a lot of strikes, forcing him to block, which left him over a kick.

' _One…two….one…two,'_ Harry thought to himself. _'Or is it two…one…one…two…..she's really varying up….yes, I was right, it's one…two…one…two!'_

Block, fake the block that she faked, and Harry kicked her hard down onto the ground. Several ropes wrapped around her and tightened against her body.

"I believe and assassin uses all of his tools and anything can be used as a weapon," Harry said. The ropes wouldn't hold him for as long as he would have liked and if she was an enemy. "Are you ready to surrender?"

Harry leaned down and cupped her face. Nyssa blinked suddenly and pulled away from him.

"Yes, I think we're done….until breakfast," Nyssa said. Harry untied her.

' _Three, two one,'_ Harry mentally counted down.

She tried to nail him with a glancing blow to the shoulder, and Harry blocked it. Harry propelled her attack back, and she threw her full weight into him, taking him down to the ground. She rolled to her feet and caught him with her knee, driving it down to the back of his head.

"You didn't take me at my word when I was done, but you left your left unguarded," Nyssa said. "You can't favor one hand over the other. Even if you're right handed, what happens if you suffer an injury to that side?"

Harry got her point. She reached down, and Harry grabbed her by the hands and flipped her over, onto her back.

He was now on top of her and pinned her down to the ground.

"I might get the impression that you just like to be underneath me," Harry said.

"Hardly," Nyssa muttered. He leaned down and she wished that her body hadn't betrayed her like it did.

"Mmm, well, I have evidence that points to the contrary."

Cass turned up. She had been woken up to the sounds of sparring and sure enough, Nyssa decided to test Harry. Although, she would put even odds on Nyssa trying to kill him in his sleep and passing it off as failing a test.

"So, were you testing him or was that an attempt to kill him in his sleep to prove a point to your father?" Cass asked.

Nyssa scoffed and Harry finally let her off. She realized that he had stripped her of all of her weapons, including the hidden ones. She wondered how he did that and it caused her to be flustered.

"Contrary to popular belief, scoffing is not an ideal way to communicate," Cass informed her. "So, should I have waited for Harry to finish you off either?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Nyssa said. She turned to Harry. "You've shown improvement."

"Well, I'd like to say that's a reflection on my teacher," Harry said.

Nyssa decided not to correct him that she didn't really teach Harry much of anything. Then again, she realized what he meant. Harry was studying her moves and the moves of several others in the League and forming his own way. He was combining magic and martial arts disciplines.

Granted, he wasn't perfectly fluid and it was a hard skill to master. Some people were highly disciplined in one or the other.

"I'll be in my quarters to think over my critique," Nyssa said. She turned around and she walked off.

She was going to plan her next test for Harry and this time, she was going to step up her game. She didn't want him to be put her into a compromising position again, or at least that easily.

Nyssa blinked and she shook her head.

"So, she prefers women?" Ginny asked Cass.

Not that it mattered, given how much Harry was the exception to every single rule.

"Her preference is towards women," Cass explained to her. "That doesn't mean that she can't be swayed another way."

"As if I don't know what she's really doing in her room," Ginny muttered to herself. She turned to Harry. "Maybe you should give her a hand?"

"That's a good way to lose one," Cass said blandly.

"Well, she'll be choking for it soon enough," Ginny said. She just hoped she could see it. Watching Harry dominate other women was her big turn on.

Harry didn't say anything, but he smiled. He wondered if Nyssa realized that she was subconsciously swaying her hips. It wasn't anything too overt, just a little bit. The hunt would be worthy of the bounty though.

* * *

Megan Jones needed a pick me up at the Leaky Cauldron. She could have sworn that she was going to get thrown into Azkaban for sure. She returned to the Prophet and her supervisor didn't even know about it.

Perhaps she should count her blessings.

Her eyes spied a redhead with a perfect hourglass figure approach her. She was wearing robes that did a modest job of hiding her frame.

"Megan Jones, what the devil were you thinking?" she asked.

Megan looked up from her drink, "Well, Sue, I was thinking that I could find out what the Ministry was trying to cover up."

"Yes, I know," Susan Bones said. She sat down in front of her old classmate. "So, we got a full meeting. Apparently, Harry Potter has been sent home for a leave of absence based off of him killing the Lestranges, before they could be investigated."

Megan could tell that Susan had plenty to say. She was holding her tongue. Megan understood her position, she had a job at the Ministry and she wanted to be the best she could be.

"You don't believe that any more than I do," Megan said.

"At this point, I don't know what to believe any more," Susan admitted. "All I know is that the Lestranges were the key witnesses in a Ministry investigation and now Harry set it back by killing them."

"So, that's why their panties were in a snit," Megan said. She took a long drink. "Or so they say."

"I don't know," Susan said. "There's a lot in the Ministry that doesn't make sense to me these days and none of it that I can say out loud."

"Hmm, that doesn't entice me at all," Megan muttered. "Does this have to do with Hermione Granger getting a job that she really isn't qualified for?"

"You should say things like that against Hermione," Susan warned her. "Certain people don't like it when you say anything bad about the savior of magical creatures everywhere and the most brilliant witch since Rowena Ravenclaw."

"Well, unless they're people like Malfoy," Megan said. "Does it unsettle you as much as it does me that she's been able to pass through a lot of legislation to get better deals for magical creatures? I mean, it's great what she's done, but if the past three hundred and some odd years of British Magical history has taught me anything, we aren't the most tolerant people to non-humans."

"Hermione will always be known as the best friend of Harry Potter, that holds a lot of weight, even when he's on the Ministry's bad side," Susan reminded her. "And careful, Megan, you're slipping into reporter mode. You start seeing conspiracies in everything you'll end up like Luna Lovegood."

Megan blinked.

"What?" Megan asked.

"Forget I said anything," Susan said hastily. Megan gave her the look. Sue grew more serious, "Megan, I'm your friend, and I want you to drop this matter entirely."

Megan didn't drop the matter entirely.

"Are you working on some kind of cover up, Sue?" Megan asked. She couldn't believe that the niece of Amelia Bones would do something like this.

"It's complicated," Susan muttered. She fidgeted in her seat. "They're everywhere."

Megan was surprised at Susan's reaction and she sounded scared to death.

"Please, Meg, for the love of Morgana, just leave Granger alone, if you don't want to end up like Lovegood."

Megan opened her mouth, but there was a scream that echoed throughout the pub that caused any further response to be lost in space. Someone was screaming bloody murder.

She turned around and saw someone emptying his bag. Several black objects the size of hub caps dropped onto the table and crumbled into dust.

"My galleons….what the bloody hell happened?" the wizard asked.

The other patrons in the bar who went to pay had the same thing happen to them. The galleons they had turned black and then crumbled into useless, worthless dust.

Megan was distracted by the matter of any Ministry cover up, for a moment. Galleons turning bad and crumbling into dust was news if she ever saw it.

"Those goblins better have a good explanation for this!" one of the patrons bellowed. "This is my hard earned money!"

And the natives were restless.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: State of Emergency.**

* * *

Despite the wishes of the Ministry of Magic, there was no way they were going to be able to sweep this entire mess under the carpet. The goblins might have been difficult to deal with, but they did the job that no one in the Wizarding World wanted to do.

There were angry witches and wizards rioting in Diagon Alley. The Ministry had to send a small squad of Aurors to appease the situation and arrests had to be made.

Gringotts had to be shut down due to security concerns. The goblins weren't saying anything about what they were doing within the walls of the bank. Their own investigation was ongoing.

Hermione joined a small group of Ministry officials who would be meeting with the Goblin Nation representatives to discuss the future.

"So, what happened?" one of the officials asked.

"The Galleons have been utterly destroyed, and dozens of families have been wiped out overnight," Hermione said. "Some of the richest and wealthiest families in the world as well, the Malfoys, the Parkinsons, the Greengrasses, among others. All of them, gone just like that, in a snap."

"Well, their lack of foresight was alarming, putting all of their faith in Galleons," Blaise Zabini said. He was one of the Ministry officials who turned up. "The goblins were willing to sell us out to join up with the Dark Lord when he promised them the illusion of freedom."

"I'm sure that the goblins didn't have anything to do with this," Kingsley said.

He didn't like this. The Minister lead the group of Ministry officials into the bank. A goblin walked forward, with his bodyguards on either side. He sat down to face them.

"Every single Galleon in this bank has been wiped out," the goblin told them. "The sickles and the knuts and any artifacts and treasures have been left unharmed…for the moment."

"Who could have done such a thing?" one of the Ministry officials asked.

"We're conducting our own investigation and we will find who has done this," the goblin said.

They would find out whether it was some human who did this or if it was corruption from the inside. The goblin nation was currently in a state of war.

"The Ministry will help you in any way that we can," Hermione said.

"No, I think that won't be necessary," the goblin said. "Gringotts can work a lot more efficiently without the Ministry's…..help."

The word hung like a bad taste in his mouth. It was like he was disgusted by what he had to say.

"You should trust the Ministry," Hermione argued. She pressed forward. "After all we've done over the past few years…."

"Yes, you have given us rights, but you have not given us representation in the Ministry!" the goblin snapped. "And yes, I know who you are, Miss Granger. You are a crusader for the rights of magical creatures. Pardon me, if I don't believe a liar and a thief, who has swindled the Goblin Nation in the past."

Hermione realized what he was talking about instantly.

"You're talking about when I helped Harry break into Gringotts to take the Hufflepuff Cup," Hermione said.

The goblin responded with a nasty expression, "Excellent to see that you don't have a selective memory, Miss Granger. You enlisted the help of one of our goblins and used one of your Unforgiveable Curses to further trick us. And you tried to swindle the goblin who helped you, by stealing what does not belong to you."

Hermione wisely kept her mouth shut, at least for now.

"So, forgive us, if we don't believe any of your promises," the goblin nastily said.

"I don't think that Miss Granger's past actions should be held against her," Kingsley said. "Some of your fellow goblins….."

"They made a deal with your self-styled Dark Lord, we recall," the goblin remarked. "Those goblins were given a trial by combat and paid for their crimes. They acted without the knowledge or the consent of the royal family."

The goblin poured himself a drink, offering it to his fellow goblins, and not a drop to the humans there. He sipped it and his beady eyes compared to peer.

"We will get to the bottom of this," the goblin representative stated. "And if the matter occurred internally, then it will be dealt with internally. But, if any human involvement has occurred, then this will be cause for war."

"And what makes you think that we'll believe your investigation to be authentic?" Zabini asked.

"I know honor means very little to a wand waver, but you'll have that," the goblin representative commented. "For this point, until our investigation is concluded, no human will be permitted to access Gringotts."

Hermione stammered in response, "But….the Ministry can't run without…any funding."

"That's hardly our problem," the goblin representative said. "We will send you a summons when our investigation is concluded. Good day to you, but you'll just be in our way."

The Ministry Representatives all got up to their feet. They were really worried about the future.

"Isn't there something else that we could do?" one of them asked Kingsley.

"We could appeal to the Muggle Government and ask for a grant, to keep the Ministry running," Kingsley said.

"Do you really want to be indebted to Muggles?" Zabini asked.

Kingsley spoke in his even and calm tone, "Well, if you had any solutions, now would be the time to tell them, Mr. Zabini."

"The Zabini family has investments and resources beyond Gringotts that should keep the Ministry open until the goblins conclude their investigation," Zabini replied.

"Wouldn't we have the same problem?" one of the Ministry officials asked.

"A great bulk of the Zabini fortune is in real gold, not the synthetic gold the goblins use to save on overhead," Zabini said.

This little tidbit was news to them all. Kingsley was intrigued, but a bit suspicious. The Zabinis were not supporters of the dark arts, but still he found a bit nervous.

"It's not like there's going to be another white knight that's going to bail us out," Zabini continued. "And all I ask is a couple of considerations from the Ministry and a couple of favors."

Kingsley figured as much, but he was in over a barrel. If he didn't agree to this proposal, then people would turn their ire towards the Ministry as much as Gringotts. Hundreds would lose their jobs.

"In my office, within fifteen minutes," Kingsley told him.

He remembered what Dumbledore told him about making the tough decisions, even though many people might not be too happy about it. It wasn't until today that Kingsley Shacklebolt knew about this.

* * *

One of the biggest flaws and problems any warrior could have would be to grow comfortable with the same opponents. You started getting used to countering their maneuvers, rather than adapting your own.

There was such a thing as growing too used to a sparring opponent. A variety of different enemies worked best when honing and sharping skills.

Harry blocked the incoming sword. He dodged another blow and he spun around. His sword clung with Cassandra's when she fought him. She was pretty good at judging his movements and his fake outs right before he could even do them.

She had a few near misses when she stabbed at him.

"Don't hold back," Cassandra warned him.

Harry smiled and he clung the sword against hers. The two of them continued their sparring session and Cassandra flipped out of the way. She threw a dagger at him. He caught it and threw it back at her.

She deflected it back at him and this time he ducked. He was behind her and grabbed her by the arms. He disarmed her of the sword and turned her around.

She swept his legs out from underneath him. Cassandra stepped back and saw Harry's body flicker in the light when she knocked him down.

She took her eyes completely off of him and spun around. The real Harry showed up. They continued their battle, backing off with each other.

Cassandra broke Harry's sword and had him backed against the wall. The blade was at his throat, but he didn't show any fear.

He tripped her legs out from underneath her and disarmed her blade. He waved his hand and two rock walls appeared. She smashed through them with skill and precision. That put Harry on the higher ground above her and he came down across her.

"Not bad," she replied.

Harry was behind her and grabbed her arms again. She rolled out and caused him to crash down. She stabbed at him, but Harry avoided the attack. He reared back his hand and sent it at her abs.

She blocked it, at least partially. The wind was knocked out of her and Harry grabbed her in a headlock. She countered by stabbing him with another concealed blade.

Harry winced and stepped back. He adjusted to the wound that he had and kept powering on through. The two of them continued to go back and forth against each other for another moment.

Cassandra dropped down to one knee before Harry. He grabbed her by the chin with one hand and placed a sword blade to her throat. Her ankles and wrists were bound by an unseen for.

"No visible restraints," she remarked. She slipped her way out. "Still physical, but invisible."

"Yes, I've improved on that fact," Harry said.

She waved her hand and it was obvious that there was time. Harry kept his eyes on her and was half expecting another round.

"That's Nyssa's style," Cassandra said.

Harry still wasn't convinced. The blood dripped from the shirt that he wore. Cassandra motioned for him to take his shirt off.

Cassandra took a long look at his athletic body. The scars once there were gone, except for the mark on his hand. She grabbed a cloth and started to clean his cut.

The cut wasn't there. The blood was, but the cut wasn't.

"It wasn't that bad of a cut," Harry reminded her.

Cass stepped back and she sank down with him. "Soon, you'll be able to go through your next trial."

"Already? Well that's remarkable progress."

Nyssa showed up. With each session, she was forced to push herself and to adapt more. She actually looked forward to these training sessions with Harry, for the simple fact that it pushed her to think outside of the box.

"It's my recommendation," Cass said. Harry slipped his shirt back on. "And Ginny's progress."

"She's currently resting after that last session, and I'd imagine that she's cursing the day that I was born," Nyssa said.

"I'm certain that she does that regularly with the both of us," Cass answered.

Harry smiled. It was harder on Ginny to adapt, because she didn't have the gifts that he had and he wasn't certain about magic.

"It builds character," Cass added after a moment.

Harry slipped into the next room to check on Ginny. Sure enough, Ginny was face down on the bed and she groaned slightly.

"I must have been mental for taking on this training," Ginny said.

"No, not really, just stubborn," Harry said.

Ginny managed to lift her head up and sure enough, she saw Harry standing there. She was too sore to do anything other than look at him.

"I didn't black out this time," Ginny admitted. "I don't know how you do half of the things that you do."

"Mostly because I'm good at learning things when I see them play out in front of me," Harry said. "My mind can learn from watching people and seeing what they're doing, reading their every move."

"You make it sound like breathing," Ginny said. She felt Harry's hands run down her shoulders and she shivered.

His hands slowly worked her body and he could bend her at his will like this.

"You should have been better a long time ago, but I think that there was a part of you that was holding the rest of you back," Ginny said.

Harry hummed when he worked his hands down Ginny's body. She came relaxed. Harry's hands healed some of the soreness.

"I don't want to make a habit out of doing this," Harry said. "It could become an addiction."

"Yeah, bit too late for that, I think," Ginny remarked. She felt Harry's fingers tease her, but they did not seal the deal. "And that was really nice of you to side step my question."

Harry ran his hands over her. He wasn't really avoiding her question, but he was pondering how to best answer it. His hands skimmed over every delicious inch of her body and caused her to whimper underneath his touch.

He hmmed.

"I mean, it's been a few weeks since we've been here, and you're further along than I am," Ginny said. "And Auror training doesn't really give that much of a base for physical fighting. Half those Aurors don't have the sense to duck. It's just put up a shield and….oooh that's a good spot."

Harry smiled.

"I did study a lot of the League members before departing and watched their movements," Harry said. "If Hogwarts demonstrated the magic in a practical manner, instead of trying to shove theory down our throats, I would have been the top student in that year. And I always did the best with teachers who have a more practical approach."

"Faux-Moody, Lupin," Ginny answered. She paused and she added. "Tonks to a certain extent. Although there was some incentive with her and she wasn't an official teacher."

"Indeed," Harry said, after working out a kink on Ginny's neck.

"If Hogwarts had more of a practical approach of teaching people, well I think that it would be a lot easier for a lot of people," Ginny added. "And you would have done far better than Hermione."

Harry's expression and tone grew so cold that Ginny swore that she felt an Arctic blast.

"Ginny, please, do not ever mention that name to me ever again."

"Sorry," Ginny answered. She felt Harry's hands tense up and work over her neck a little bit more and then go down her body, teasing between her legs.

Harry acted like the forbidden name hadn't been brought up.

"I'm sure you need to get ready after lunch for more training," Harry whispered. "Therefore, I wouldn't want to do anything to tire you out too much."

Ginny sighed, but at least she was able to sit up. She leaned forward and kissed Harry. She felt like a large weight around his ankle and if she would properly serve him, she needed to become better.

Being withheld sex was also a damn good incentive to get better, especially when it was from Harry.

"Try and watch others train and see what you can pick up," Harry said. "It's easier to learn that way, then it is when you're getting your ass kicked."

Ginny shook her head. It went without saying that Harry could have done both.

* * *

Megan Jones thought this was the most brilliant irony of them all. She sat on the story of the century, perhaps of the millennium, perhaps of all history, about the economic crash of the magical world. They could be on the eve of another goblin-wizard war, and there was a huge problem.

No one could buy the Prophet containing her story and she couldn't get paid for it. The Daily Prophet shut down and everyone was laid off. The same thing happened to countless businesses throughout the Wizarding World and it had been happening since the incident about five weeks ago, where Megan saw Galleons disappear before her very eyes.

It was dangerous to take one step down Diagon Alley due to the riots, the looting, and the protesting. Normal witches and wizards on the street called for the heads of both the goblins and the Ministry.

The Ministry, which Megan noted, who had no trouble in running. Someone was funding the Ministry to stay open. If the government shut down, then no one could enforce the Statute of Secrecy.

The fact there was no news made people even more agitated. People were on track to lose their homes.

Kingsley Shacklebolt assured the people that the Ministry was hoping to reach out to the Goblin Nation, hoping for a solution. Megan thought that Kingsley was a standup guy, an honest man, and that's why he was such an utter failure of a politician.

Megan heard a knock on the door.

"Hopefully that's not the landlord about ready to kick me out," Megan joked.

She had to lighten the mood, because the alternative was some really bad news. She crossed the room and opened the door.

Hermione Granger stood on the other side of the door.

"Madam Granger, what a nice surprise," Megan said. "I'd invite you in for a cup of a tea, but I'm afraid that I'm all out."

Hermione brushed off any sarcasm.

"I'm sorry to see that you're out of a job," Hermione said.

Megan nodded and she decided to do the polite thing and offer Hermione a seat.

"The public are worried," Hermione continued.

"Well, I would think," Megan said.

"The Ministry thinks that it's best for the Wizarding World if they are assured that the problems are being ironed out," Hermione replied.

"Wasn't this the sort of thing that the Golden Trio rebelled against?" Megan asked. "Blatant Ministry lies….I wonder what Harry would think about this."

"Well, this isn't about Harry," Hermione said curtly. "The Daily Prophet has been a valuable tool in the past, and I've discussed things with the Prophet shareholders, who have been wiped out. Several backers have bought them out and the Daily Prophet is back up and running."

"How is the Ministry getting this money?" Megan asked.

"That's confidential," Hermione told her. "I'm certain that I can count on you to write about how the Ministry is doing everything they can to keep our world from falling apart."

Megan read between the lines and suddenly everything became more clearly.

"I think people don't understand that I'm not the villain here," Hermione told her. "I could have had you thrown in Azkaban for the best years of your life, but I chose not to. Now, that doesn't make me a bad person, does it?"

"Someone should give you an Order of Merlin for your benevolence," Megan responded dryly. "First Class, even."

Hermione brushed off her rather sardonic praising of her.

"You're returning to work, even at double your old pay," Hermione informed her. "Have a good day, Miss Jones."

Megan felt like she should be turning tricks on a street corner in Knockturn Alley. That might be a more respectful line of work than working at a Ministry owned paper.

* * *

Harry stepped into a long hallway, surrounded by statues. Ginny followed behind him and Nyssa and Cass made their way behind her.

"Did I say that you're crazy?" Ginny asked.

"Every other day since you married me," Harry replied.

"Just checking, because I take all of those times back," Ginny said. "But this here, it's pretty crazy."

"Yes, I know," Harry confirmed.

Nyssa and Cass were more intrigued than anything about what he was doing.

"So, what's your end game here?" Nyssa asked.

"To prove that I don't need to see an enemy to defeat them," Harry said. He was surrounded by a group of statues.

The statues were commissioned and created from several great warriors throughout the history of the League. The mystic enchantments put what was known about their fighting styles.

And now Harry was going to use his powers as the Master of Death to activate them and use them to sharpen his skills even further.

"Okay, the rune timer is on for two minutes, they will be activated," Ginny said. "Plenty of time for you to come to your senses."

"Cuffs, please," Harry said.

Ginny sighed and handed Harry a pair of bracelets. He snapped them onto his wrists.

"Magical suppression cuffs," Cass breathed. Her stoic expression nearly faltered. "I would have to agree with Ginny, I think that he's completely and utterly insane."

"Blindfold, please," Harry told Ginny.

"Did I mention how mad you are?" Ginny asked.

"A couple of times, maybe," Harry admitted. Everything became dark around her.

Ginny made her way behind the barrier to join Nyssa and Cass. The three women watched him prepare for his enemies.

"He never makes things too easy on himself," Nyssa said.

"Well at least he hasn't had me bind his legs together," Ginny muttered, careful not to let Harry hear a word that she said.

The last thing she wanted to was to give him any ideas after all.

"He doesn't have a weapon," Nyssa said.

She didn't move to correct that. The statues flashed to life and all of them moved towards Harry.

Harry low bridged underneath a sword attack. A spear came to the right, but he dodged it. A large staff tried to crack him, but Harry pivoted around that, and he ran up the wall and landed behind him.

The statue's footsteps rattled, and the smell of the decayed stone filled his nostrils. Harry avoided the attack and it smashed into one of the pillars. Harry jumped up and took the sword away from the statue.

"He's pretty adept with a sword all things considered," Nyssa said.

"I prefer his spear," Ginny said.

She watched where Harry continued to attack the warriors. They didn't give him any quarter. Harry got a few cuts and scrapes, but given the situation, it wasn't really too bad to be honest.

"Good," Nyssa muttered.

She watched approvingly when Harry tricked his enemies into attacking each other. It was three for the price of one.

Harry made a mental tally of all of the enemies he defeated. His reflexes and instincts allowed him to take out another enemy.

Minutes grinded by, and turned rapidly into an hour, when Harry fought them off.

Nyssa motioned towards Cass and she nodded. The two of them jumped down and stood on either side of Harry, who had been battling the stone warriors for over an hour.

Cass rushed Harry. Harry could hear her heart beat coming. He grabbed Cass around the arm and turned it around. He smacked her down on the ground.

Nyssa jumped up to attack him. He had the stone shield in his hand, and she smacked her blade into it.

The two girls attacked Harry from either side. He kept moving and dodging, blocking their maneuvers before they can even bring them off.

Cass was the first to go down. She was tangled up in a net that had been dropped from the ceiling. Was it always there or was it set up before?

Nyssa charged Harry and he dodged her attack. He removed the sword from her hand and used his own sword. He brought her down onto the ground.

He made an "X" with the swords, trapping her head. If Nyssa moved now, she would surely be decapitated. She had nowhere to go.

"Time," Harry said. He pulled the swords from the ground.

Casually, he unclicked the bracelets, and removed the blindfold. He helped Nyssa to her feet.

Cassandra did remove herself from the net, but the agreed time limit for that fight.

"That was planned, wasn't it?" Ginny asked.

"Yes," Harry agreed.

Cassandra looked at Harry in surprise and managed to spit out her question, "You removed magical suppressing cuffs?"

"Yes," Harry agreed.

"Why is that a surprise?" Nyssa asked.

"Well, they can only be removed by the person who put them on," Cassandra said. "Otherwise, it would negate the point of using them."

Harry was full of a lot of surprises.

"This is another one of your trade secrets, isn't it?" Nyssa asked.

"Trained under an escape artist for a couple of months, she taught me how to remove anti-magical restraints without using magic," Harry said. "And her father taught her. She's a stage magician now, should check out her show in Vegas, it's pretty good."

"Wait, you learned how to remove them from a stage magician?" Cassandra asked.

"She does have legit magical powers, not just slight of hand or illusion," Harry said. He smiled at the shocked look on their faces. "And that's what makes her good."

Nyssa realized that he could have gotten out of those restraints at any time.

* * *

Deep underneath Gringotts, a gaggle of goblins sat around a table. The goblin who had met with the Ministry officials sat at the forefront.

"The Gringotts Council represents Prince Benedict," the head of the table commented.

Prince Benedict looked at them through his beady little eyes.

"The Ministry has sent us another letter, wishing to open the doors back up," Benedict informed them. "Yet, they have found their funding and are willing to keep themselves open to tell lies to their own people. Are these the type of people the Goblin Nation are willing to work together with?"

There was angry hissing from several of the goblins at the table.

"And who is missing in all of this?" Benedict asked. "Do you find it odd that Harry Potter disappeared shortly before our gold had been sabotaged?"

The goblins got even angrier at the mention of the accursed one, the one who had made them look like such fools when he had got around their security, with help of that traitor Griphook. Griphook had been executed for his crimes against the Goblin Nation.

In a few years, no one would remember his name. That was what was etched on his gravestone.

"The humans are growing more desperate," another goblin commented. "Perhaps we could use this to advantage, to up the rates and make even more money."

"It's useless if we can't create any more Galleons," a grizzled old goblin stated at the table.

"Regardless, we need to find the culprit, and Potter is likely the most obvious suspect," Benedict said.

"Really, little brother? Are we turning this into a witch hunt now? And here I thought that goblins were better than that?"

The goblins at the table looked up in surprise. A green skinned woman with soft features and silky black hair turned up. She had dazzling violet eyes, high elegant cheek bones, pointed ears, and soft looking lips, along with an elegant looking neck. Her skin looked rather elegant, free of any blemishes. She was short, with a curvy body. She was taller than most of the goblins, and most of her height had to do with her legs, which were long and shapely, even though they were covered.

To the goblins, she was quite hideous looking indeed. She looked more human, than goblin, and if she wasn't a member of the royal family, she would have been exiled for being a filthy half-breed.

"Sersi, you're a long way from the royal palace," Benedict said.

His older sister gave him a smile and responded, "Things were spiraling out of control in Britain and our grandfather sent me, to ensure that you weren't trying to cause a revolution."

"Whoever destroyed our supply of Galleons caused the revolution," Benedict answered. "And you shouldn't worry, I have matters at Gringotts well under control."

"Given that I had to maneuver myself around a group of angry humans calling for the heads of the goblins, I beg to differ," Sersi answered. She sat down. No one dared deny her a spot at the table, because she was the future Queen of the Goblin Nation

Benedict's role was to run all of the Gringotts branches around the world.

"What are you planning to do?" Sersi asked.

"We believe that Harry Potter may be behind this," Benedict said.

"Do you have any proof?" Sersi asked. "Or, are you just making groundless accusations to find a scapegoat and make you look good in the eyes of the Goblin Nation?"

Benedict looked like he had been punched in the mouth.

"I know you have an infatuation with that human…"

Sersi interrupted, "What I have an infatuation with, Benny, is the truth, and not accusing people of crimes that you have no proof of."

"The Ministry is covering for Potter!" Benedict yelled. He was angered that Sersi would use his childhood nickname and make him look less than noble in the eyes of his fellow goblins.

Sersi thought that her brother's logic had a number of holes in it, and she was only too happy to put them out. After all, that's what older sisters were for.

"The Ministry spends half their time vilifying him," Sersi said. "So why would they cover for him?"

Prince Benedict gnashed his teeth. His half breed of a half-sister really knew how to make him look foolish.

"Our grandfather highly recommends that you find a solution, or he'll find someone that will," Sersi said. "And I want the Ministry's backers investigated."

One of the goblins at the table answered, speaking over Benedict, "It will be done at once, Princess Sersi."

"Our grandfather sends his regards," Sersi said. "And I'll be staying until this matter is resolved. Given how slow this investigation is going, I figured that you could use the extra help."

The Goblin Nation was on the verge of a civil war. At another time, Voldemort and his followers would have been utterly destroyed, but the royal army was fighting the insurgents.

They couldn't afford to deal with fighting the wand wavers right now.

* * *

Nyssa spent a lot of time thinking about what she would do for her next fight with Harry. He was improving at a rate that was impressive. And it almost terrified her.

She spent a long time figuring out a plan and she was pretty sure that this would end well for her, win or lose in fact.

"So, are you ready?" Harry asked.

Nyssa rose to her feet before him, "Yes, one final test, before you move on to your next trial."

"Already?" Harry asked her.

"You would just be going around in circles, unless you move forward and that would not allow you to achieve your full potential," Nyssa said. "When you defeat me this time, go all of the way. Show your superiority, show that to me. I will not stop fighting until you completely and utterly achieve victory over me."

Harry understood what she meant perfectly. The two of them circled around each other for a moment.

"Let's begin."

Nyssa stabbed at Harry. He blocked her first attack and he avoided a rebound attack. Nyssa stepped back.

A shield appeared and Nyssa kept slamming at the sword. Several ropes shot out. She dodged them and sliced them.

She was behind Harry, and she stuck to the shadows. She tried to misdirect him into attacking a person that wasn't there.

Nyssa flung a dagger. It burned before it took Harry. She tried to nail him with a swinging punch on the back swing.

Harry pushed her up against the wall and pinned her against it. She wasn't going to make it that easy to be honest.

She caused a flash bang to erupt when powder filled the air. She jumped behind him. Harry turned around and grabbed her fist. He twisted them around and brought her down onto her hands and knees.

Nyssa struggled to try and get to her feet. Harry released her instantly. She punched at him. Harry dodged it. He caught her arm and he caught her other arm.

She struggled and squirmed against him. Harry leaned forward and kissed her on the lips.

Nyssa struggled against him, when his tongue pushed in her mouth. It only lasted for a couple of minutes. She found her desire to fight to become less and less, and her desire to return the kiss became even more and more. She nibbled on his lower lip, unable to believe that she was succumbing to him.

She snapped for a moment, and started to fire back with a rapid fire succession of blows. Nyssa's hair flew wildly.

Harry went behind her and held her into place.

"I…can't….I have to….win," Nyssa said stubbornly.

He started rested his hand between her and his finger made a circular motion.

"I think that you're going to win, aren't you?" Harry asked. He grabbed her by the hair and guided her down on her knees. "You can handle a spear well, can't you?"

Nyssa realized where this was going and she tried to make one more effort to get to her feet. Harry brought her back down.

Her hands were placed on his pants, but instead of taking him down, she ripped his pants open.

Harry grabbed Nyssa's head and held her face steady for him, "So, does the student have something to learn, or can he teach, the teacher something?"

Nyssa breathed heavily. She realized that she had lost, but she had won at the same time. She looked him right in the eye and nodded.

"I'm not quite defeated yet," Nyssa challenged.

* * *

Harry pulled back from Nyssa, who was sticky, sore, and satisfied all at the same time.

"I think that I beat you completely," Harry said. He smiled, and added. "But naturally, if there's any fight left in you, I'll be happy to take you the rest of the way."

"You've won," Nyssa informed him.

The sun was about to set on another era of the League, but a brand new era was about to dawn. He had achieved every single test that Nyssa set out for him, the conquering of a potential threat to his power being the final one.

Thankfully, he interpreted that trial as she hoped, because if she killed her, it would have inconvenienced her greatly.

"I believe I've got some unfinished business to prepare for," Harry concluded.

 **To Be Continued.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine: The Return.**

* * *

Prince Benedict of the Goblin Nation walked down a long and winding hallway. He made sure no one followed him. Only a select group of loyalists to his cause knew about the business transaction that was going.

Benedict opened up a large gate and the glint of gold flashed against his eyes. Piles and piles of real gold glinted in his face. It wasn't the cheap synthetic gold that they used as Galleons in the magical monetary system, with Britain and a few other countries. This was actual gold with real value.

The goblin tapped his finger against the wall and waited for his guest to arrive. He didn't have to wait for long when he appeared down a tunnel.

Blaise Zabini stepped towards the young goblin prince.

"The goblins should have been on the verge of war now?" Zabini asked. "What went wrong?"

"My sister, Princess Sersi, decided to show up in the country," Benedict said. The scowl going over the goblin's face made him look even more ugly than ever before.

Zabini wasn't in the mood to hear any kind of simpering excuses. He crossed the room and got straight into the goblin prince's face.

"You wish to be the heir apparent to the goblin throne?" Zabini asked him. Benedict nodded. "Then eliminate the competition and rally the goblins."

Benedict sneered. He doubted very much that human had any call for saying about who should be rallying whom in a situation like this. Especially considering the fact that this human was still a lowly soldier.

"Shacklebolt has no idea where you're really getting the gold to fund the Ministry?" Benedict demanded.

"He wishes to keep this matter inside the country and hopes to still work out a peaceful solution," Zabini said. "The last thing anyone at the Ministry wants is the International Confederation of Wizards to get involved."

There were a lot of countries that had a vendetta against Wizarding Britain, when they had been stiffed on trades. They might be inclined to bail them out, if they didn't have their own problems.

The HIVE planned for other crisis events to happen in other magical countries throughout the world. Britain was just the center of it.

"What does the HIVE want?" Benedict asked.

Zabini scooped up a handful of gold. He looked at it eagerly.

"The person who controls this, has all of the power," Zabini said. "I don't think the goblins fully appreciate how much power they have over humans. They could crush us, by taking our very livelihood away from us. Gold makes the world work, after all."

Several of the goblins eyed Zabini. They would love nothing better than to feed his smug snake ass to one of the dragons. Unfortunately for them, he was needed, the resources that he had would allow Benedict and the group of insurgents that he was covertly funding to overthrow the royal family.

Voldemort had been a snag, unfortunately, for many parties, on all sides. The Colony was now finally recovering and enacting all of the plans of the HIVE. The Bumblebee's blunder set them back a long time.

"Don't you realize how much power you could have over me, had I allowed you that luxury?"

"I realize that," Benedict said.

"Just remember our deal will be fulfilled," Zabini informed him. "King Benedict of the Goblins, that has a nice ring to it, wouldn't you agree?"

Benedict looked greedier than ever before, all of the power, all of the gold, but why stop with the throne of the Goblin Nation? He could unite the goblins the world over and overrun humanity and force them to bow before the might of all goblins.

"I have no intention of betraying you, Zabini," Benedict replied. "What of Potter?"

Zabini stepped forward towards Benedict. The prince of the goblins was nose to nose with Zabini and he leaned forward, whispering in his ear.

"I killed him," Zabini whispered. "Just remember how much the goblins owe me and what could happen to you if you betray me."

Benedict didn't back down from Zabini, "Is that a threat, human?"

"More like a promise, goblin," Zabini said. He was moderately annoyed that the goblin didn't believe that Potter was really dead.

It did feel oddly good to tell someone of his triumph. He wished that he could shout from the rooftops that he killed Harry Potter.

"Be warned human, pride comes before a fall," the goblin said.

Zabini didn't say anything. As per their agreement, he loaded up on the gold that would be used to fund the Ministry. He would in turn support the goblins with magical artifacts, that would gain them the advantage. All of the artifacts the Ministry "seized" and "destroyed" from Death Eaters, were really locked underneath a chamber inside the Auror Department.

Granted, many of those magical artifacts were cursed and anyone who used them was playing dice with their own life, but who better than the goblins to test out what was really dangerous.

"I want one more thing," Zabini said.

"Just one?" Benedict asked.

"The Sword of Godric Gryffindor," Zabini said.

"Absolutely not," Benedict informed him.

"I know Longbottom returned it to the bank as an act of good faith to prevent the goblins from causing all out war, but since I beat the wizard who rightfully claimed it, it's mine my right of conquest," Zabini said.

"So, you're claiming that you killed Longbottom as well?" Benedict asked.

Zabini didn't know what happened to that near-squib, but he was willing to take advantage of Longbottom disappearing without a trace to bolster his legend, "Well, he hasn't been seen in public in at least a year."

"Bold, human, that kind of boldness can get you killed," Benedict said.

"Three days, I'll be back for my sword," Zabini said.

He left the bank and left the indication that once he returned, he wouldn't be taking no for an answer.

"I'll mount his head for a trophy!" Benedict yelled.

The other goblins backed away from their raving and raging lunatic goblin prince. Some of them seriously considered other options, but given that he was backed by the HIVE and their lives were worth much more than Galleons, they decided not to.

* * *

If at first you don't succeed, try again. Even if trying again would likely get you killed.

Megan didn't think that the saying was quite meant for that way. The Daily Prophet was now up and running, and pretty much used in its default role as telling people that the Ministry was doing fine and there was no need to panic, because the situation was going to be resolved.

International Confederation of Wizards representatives paying regular visits to the Minister of Magic proved otherwise. Britain lost a little bit of traction after Voldemort, but they were still a very valuable part of the European magical economy. Mostly because they imported a lot of goods from other countries. Their exports left something to be desired.

There was a lot that made her head spin. Megan's area of reporting was not economics, it was investigative journalism.

Megan learned her lesson about nosing around the office of a high ranking Ministry official.

She decided that she should take a closer look and investigate the woman's flat.

The flat was in the middle of one of the worst parts of London, and walking down the streets towards it gave Megan the creeps.

 _'You'd think that the Senior Undersecretary would live somewhere better,'_ Megan thought. _'That might be the idea.'_

She clicked open the door and entered inside. Megan waved her wand and several area of the floor lit up. She made a mental note of those being the areas of the floor that she wasn't supposed to hit.

Megan walked across the room and spotted an odd area of the wall that jutted out. Was she going to play with that area of the wall? Of course she was, what kind of investigative journalist would she be if she didn't take that plunge?

She reached towards the catch on the wall and pulled it. The wall cracked open and revealed a magical gateway.

Megan stepped into the gateway. She stepped inside, wondering what surprising treasures would be revealed.

It was a library. A really, really, big library, with shelves and shelves of magical tomes of all sorts and for all she knew, other books.

 _'Wow, Hermione Granger has an obscenely large library,'_ Megan thought dryly. _'Sky is blue, rain is wet, and politicians lie.'_

Megan looked crestfallen. Perhaps she was wrong about Hermione Granger. Perhaps she was a good person and there was no reason to suspect her of any wrong doing. She might seem like she was a bit uptight at times, but that didn't make her evil.

She stepped forward and slipped on a rug. Megan fell down on the ground.

"Damn it!" she cursed.

She pulled herself up to her feet, and the rug pulled back to reveal a rune plate that was hidden underneath the rug.

"Um, yay?" Megan muttered. She was completely unsure whether or not she should be happy about this.

The rune plate fit a rune on top of the fireplace. She realized that could be the answer she was looking for. Throwing all caution to the wind, because she had nothing left to lose, Megan slipped the rune plate into the rune slot.

It was a key and it allowed her inside. It was a large room and inside it, there were large stacks of crates.

Megan slipped the top off of one of the crates. She saw what appeared to be some kind of magical weapon, although it was unlike anything that she saw before in the past. She didn't pick it up to examine it, because she liked to keep all of her fingers, thank you very much.

Footsteps came from outside of the hall. Megan had to think quickly and she ducked behind a curtain.

Two young men dressed in yellow and black robes, wearing clothes over their face entered.

"Do you think that she has it here?" one of them muttered.

"We need to ensure that she's still with the program," another one responded.

"You do realize that if Damon finds out that we're trying to undermine his prized worker bee, we're going to be beyond boned?" the other goon asked.

"I wonder what the deal is with the two of them," the goons said.

Megan stood perfectly still behind the curtain. She didn't dare breathe, she didn't dare blink, she didn't dare even look. It was obvious because of the shuffling around that they were looking for some incriminating information or something themselves.

"Look at all of these weapons," one of them commented. "Is the HIVE trying to overthrow the Ministry?"

"I don't know, I'd stick with a wand myself," another one commented. "Zabini told us what we're looking for. It's a journal of some sort. She would be the vain type to keep one."

"But, she wouldn't just leave it laying around?" one commented.

"It must be back there, in that safe," another one muttered.

"How do we get it open?"

The goons tried to figure out how to unlock the safe. Megan wondered if she could sneak out of here undetected.

Megan clutched the side of the wall and figured that that was a big "no" because someone was watching the gateway.

"Why do you think that the gateway was open when we came down here?" a goon asked.

"Maybe one of the house elves left it open, or something?" the goon asked.

Megan grew even more nervous. She thought with each passing second that the jig was up.

"Didn't she want to free the house elves?" the first goon asked.

"Well, maybe it was a poltergeist," one of them said. "Just be thankful that we didn't have to hunt around for a key."

The safe flung open and they found what appeared to be a black journal.

"Don't put your hands directly on that thing, there's bound to be enchantments on it, or something," the man at the door warned them. "Put it in the bag, we'll have the curse breakers take a look at it later."

Megan thought that she might have to pull it off.

She felt a twitching feeling come through her nose. Of all of the times.

 _'Well this is cliche and a bit inconvenient,'_ Megan thought. Her nose tickled and she mentally chanted to herself, _'For the love of fucking Morgana, do not sneeze, do not...do not...OH SHIT!'_

Megan sneezed and caused the curtain to start flapping in response. She knew that she was deader than dead. The reporter doubted very much that she could reason with them and explain that she was trying to uncover misdeeds herself.

Was it just her, or did everything go more dark than usual? The sound of bodies hitting the ground around her caused Megan's tension to raise.

The very obvious sound of someone getting his head introduced to a brick wall right next to her also caught her off guard. The sound of cracking wood, or maybe that was bone, followed.

Dare she look? Megan flipped back the curtain and she saw the three goons down on the ground. She recognized one of them as a Hufflepuff, a couple years ahead of her.

Megan never felt more ashamed of her own house, pretty much becoming the minion type. Granted, given the loyalty, Hufflepuffs might just make the perfect minions.

The black bag containing the journal beckoned towards Megan like a forbidden fruit. She knew she shouldn't pluck it off of the vine, but her hands shook.

Something pinched Megan in the back of her neck and she got woozy, before falling unconcious.

* * *

Hermione Granger made her way down the hallway of the Ministry of Magic. It had been a very long last few weeks and she wanted to leave to get a drink and something to unwind.

Blaise Zabini stepped in front of her before she could leave the Ministry for the day.

"Granger, a word with you," Zabini said.

"If it's only just a word," Hermione answered.

The two slipped into an unused office.

"So, how has your investigation of the Department of Mysteries gone?" Zabini asked her.

"You know how it's gone," Hermione said.

"Rather poorly," Zabini answered. "Harry Potter is gone without a trace, isn't he?"

Hermione frowned and snapped back, "That hasn't been proven!"

Zabini chuckled. She really did amuse him. He leaned back against the wall and considered his words rather carefully.

"What do I have to do to prove myself?" Zabini asked him. "I made a deal with the Goblins and I took care of Potter. What more do I have to do?"

"That's not up to me to decide," Hermione said.

"Come now, Granger," Zabini said. "Are you going to spend your entire life bowing down to authority? Don't you have any aspirations of becoming a leader, and not a following? You might be a Mudblood, but you're fairly brilliant."

"Yes, I'm fairly brilliant," Hermione agreed. "And I know what you're trying to do and it won't work."

Zabini's smug snake looked faded from his face.

"Was it really necessary what happened to Lu...Lovegood?" Hermione asked.

"You and I both knew that it was necessary," Zabini said.

"She was harmless, she might have came close to uncovering something, but they would never believe the truth, if it was in the Quibbler," Hermione said. "We could have easily gotten the story buried...she could have been a valuable asset to us. She had the ability to see things beyond what many people see."

Zabini got into Hermione's face. She stung him with a slight charm and warned him to back off, which he did.

"And that makes her extremely dangerous," Zabini reminded her.

"She could have been useful," Hermione said through gritted teeth.

"It seems to me that you've grown...fond of certain people," Zabini responded. "It's almost like that when becoming that mask, you actually developed emotions beyond acquiring knowledge and working for a greater good."

"Don't be absurd!" Hermione fired back.

"I wonder if you forgot at times that you were supposed to guide Potter, and not grow attached to him," Zabini responded.

"Harry served his purpose, just like you might before too long if you keep pushing me!" Hermione growled.

Zabini laughed in her face.

"Mudblood, you never allow any blood on your hands," Zabini said. "You always find an excuse not to dirty your hands. Soon, Damon's going to get bored with you and move onto his next toy. He's going to find a newer, younger, and more efficient model, and someone who doesn't have the personality of rancid honey."

Hermione's fear that she would soon not be useful and would be left for dead was brought to the surface. She always craved the accpetance of authority, since her father coldly dismissed everything that she could do.

"Yet, you don't know who he really is and what he's capable of," Hermione said.

"I might not, but I bet you don't," Zabini fired back.

The sound of voices could be heard and Zabini leaned closer towards Hermione.

"Better remember what your purpose is, worker bee," Zabini breathed in her ear.

"Well, you better remember you place is beneath me, ant," Hermione said.

The two of them had wands pulled on each other. It was a power play and nothing more. The two stared each other down and backed off from each other, going their separate ways.

Hermione closed her eyes and mentally counted to ten. Her face shifted into a calm town. She was better now.

Not completely, because she wished that should could Zabini. He never should have been allowed to live after he killed Harry and screwed up their plans, because he wanted to make a name for himself.

* * *

Princess Sersi smelled a rat. There was a section of the bank that she couldn't access and she wanted to know why.

Her brother had a small elite guard of goblins. She followed one down the tunnel and saw his access card be slid into the wall.

Sersi ducked down the tunnel. She stopped short and gasped.

Piles and piles of gold galleons stacked to the sky. Yet, her brother had told her that all of the Galleons had been destroyed by an attack on the bank by the humans.

Sersi was putting two and two together in the only way that she could. She needed to warn the high council of what was going on here.

"Can I help you, Princess?"

A pair of surly goblin guards showed up and Sersi gasped. She stood her ground.

"Yes, you could help me by telling me what's going on?" she demanded.

"I'm ensuring the future health of the Goblin Nation, my dear sister."

Sersi's eyes shifted and she spotted Benedict show up with even more guards. They surrounded her on all sides.

"I'm sorry you had to find out about this, but it just accelerates the end of your life," Benedict said. "I'm sick and tired of playing second fiddle to some half-breed!"

"You were sent to work at the British branch, because grandfather hoped that it would teach you the value of your heritage," Sersi said.

She tried to make a way for the exit, but several goblins overpowered her and forced her onto her knees before her younger brother.

"Grandfather taught me many things, and taught me how he's caused the Goblin Nation to grow weaker," Benedict said. He looked down at his sister, who was kneeling before him, like she should be. "I've made powerful allies and I will take my rightful place. I'm not waiting to be handed the keys to the kingdom, I'm going to take them."

Sersi wondered where her brother went so long.

"You're working with..."

Benedict pulled back a cloth on the stone slab and pulled it out.

"Blaise Zabini will arrive at any second, and he will be seen by every goblin in this bank holding a sword that has your blood on it," Benedict informed her. "To save face, the Goblin Nation will put their entire support behind me. Every country who has a contract with Gringotts and the goblins will lose their backing, and as Mr. Zabini has told me, this gold right here, gives us power."

The goblin prince considered something.

"And, I'll have the perfect excuse to kill Zabini, and trust me, if you've ever met him, you would have the highest sympathies for me," Benedict added.

"Yes, you have been hanging around humans a bit too much, and the worst kind," Sersi said. "Keep talking and I'll die of sheer boredom, Benny."

Benedict held the sword in his hand and stepped to kill his sister. He raised the sword over his head and prepared to decapitate her.

An arrow shot out of nowhere and caught him in the arm. It doubled him over and caused Benedict to fall onto the ground.

A figure dressed in black swooped down. Sersi watched in astonishment when this woman took out several armed goblin warriors like they were nothing.

Not one to be a damsel in distress, Seri took one of the dropped swords, and she stabbed one of the goblin guards that held him. She knew the perfect spot to hit him where it could bypass the armor and really mess him up.

Sersi and the mysterious woman made quick work of the goblin guards.

"Not bad," the woman told Sersi.

Sersi smiled and rolled her brother over. Her brother winced when Sersi held a blade at his throat.

"You're bleeding," Sersi said. "I think he might have hit something vital as well."

A figure dressed in black armor with a black facemask showed up. He bent down and pulled his mask off, to reveal the face of Harry Potter.

"You," Benedict groaned. "Zabini said he killed you."

"And you believe him?" Harry asked. He sounded calmer and more collected that the goblin prince said through his previous battle. "You have five minutes, better tell me what you can, and I could heal you."

The poison from the arrow tip that Harry shot him with slowly paralyzed Benedict's body and he sensed that he didn't have much time. And he valued his life greatly.

"The HIVE came to me after the Dark Lord fell and offered me a deal, which would put me on the throne of the goblin nation. We would fake a crisis, that would collapse the economy of magical Britain and other magical nations in Europe...they had grown dependent...on the goblins."

"And when you had what you wanted from Zabini, you planned on killing your sister and pinning the blame for the death on him," Harry muttered.

"Not at first, but the plan made a lot of sense," Benedict commented. "And I would kill two birds with one stone. Zabini wlll be here within the hour."

Harry smiled. This was really too good to be true and it was obvious by Nyssa's body language that she agreed.

"You have to heal me," Benedict said. He could feel his throat closing up.

"I said that I could heal you, not that I would heal you," Harry told the goblin.

Benedict would have protested, if not for the fact that he couldn't even breath. The poison burned through his body and he expired within the next move.

Harry turned to Nyssa, "Help me clear up the bodies. It might be a bit of a tip off that something is up if Zabini shows up to bodies piled from the sky."

Nyssa agreed and the two wasted little time disposing of all of the slain goblin guards that they left in their wake. Sersi allowed them to do so, because as far as she was concerned, they were traitors.

He stepped over and picked up the sword of Godric Gryffindor. He held it in his hand and examined it.

"Lord Potter?" Sersi asked him.

"Yes, Princess Sersi?" he asked the princess.

"Thank you," Sersi said.

Harry nodded in acknowledgment, "You better make yourself scarce. Things are going to get ugly, really quick."

All he needed to do was wait for Zabini and settle the score. Then, he had a more personal score to settle, but that would have to wait until later.

These were essential loose ends he had to tie up before he left this world behind and embraced his true destiny.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: House of Cards.**

* * *

Megan Jones sat up out of a dead sleep. It was almost like someone had jolted her back to life.

She shook her head and took note of her surroundings. The bed she rested on was surprisingly sort, given the accommodations that she could have had, and perhaps the ones that she expected to have. Megan shook her head and tried to sit up out of the bed.

"Good, you're awake."

Megan came face to face with Ginny Weasley. She was surprised to see the youngest Weasley girl.

"Wait, you didn't get disappeared by the Ministry?" Megan asked.

"It was not for any lack trying," Ginny said. "What is it about the press and their own lack of self preservation?"

Megan shrugged and offered her honest answer, "Guess, we just don't know when to quick when we're ahead."

She had no idea where she was and she wanted to ask a million questions. The problem was that she didn't know where she began.

"To answer the most obvious one, you're some place safe where the HIVE won't find you," Ginny informed her. "And that's about all that I can tell you, other than you've stumbled into something really dangerous."

"Yes, I figured as much," Megan said. "I couldn't just shake the feeling that Granger….she was hiding something, and I didn't know what. And it kept frustrating me. You know how that goes, don't you?"

"I know how frustrating something like that could be?" Ginny asked. Megan nodded in confirmation. "Yes, I have a pretty good idea, to know that someone is keeping something from you, and you don't know if it's something harmless or a really big thing. Secrets and lies in the name of the greater good never pan out well."

"She's awake?"

Megan looked up and saw that Su Li was there. She saw the girl approach her and offer her something to drink.

"Don't worry, it's not poisoned," Ginny informed her.

Megan wondered why she believed them. The only reason that she could think of was that her mouth was really dry and she really wanted something to drink.

The cooling sensation of the water hitting her lips could be had. She was clearer and she saw Su Li's face in the light.

"What?" she asked her.

"Nothing," Megan muttered. "I've just had a long day of fearing for my life."

"To be fair, that was partially your fault," Ginny commented.

Megan shrugged, she had a point there. She saw the bag that was resting on the chair and she nearly forgot it.

"Someone beat me there," Megan said. "Someone was after….well whatever is in that journal."

"Yes, we know, they were working for Zabini, apparently," Ginny said.

She honestly didn't know what to make of this, whether or not Hermione was part of this entire HIVE conspiracy, or not. She had most certainly been a different person since she returned from Australia, and when asked about it, she said that she had been inspired to find her path in life.

"So, what's Granger's game?" Megan asked.

"I don't know," Ginny muttered.

"You were friends, weren't you?" Megan asked.

"In a matter of speaking, we slept in the same room a few summers, but I don't think that we could call us friends," Ginny said. "I suppose we got along well enough, it wasn't like she confided any deep dark secrets to me, though."

Megan grew crest fallen and she looked at her nails, for lack of anything else better to do.

"So, I'm pretty much screwed now, aren't I?" Megan asked.

"In which way?" Ginny asked.

"The not so good way, I think," Megan replied. "I mean, they know that I'm onto them, so there really isn't that much to go. I'm pretty sure that Harry found out something that he shouldn't, and that's why the Ministry is trying to claim that he was sent home pending an investigation."

Megan tried not to say it; she struggled not to say it.

"Harry is fine," Su Li said.

Megan let out the breath that she was holding.

"So, I wonder what's in the book?" Megan asked.

Ginny didn't say anything. She had no idea how to access the book and given her past experiences with enchanted books, she didn't think it was a good idea for her to access in the book.

"Might be vital information?" Megan asked.

She got deafening silence and Megan stuck out her lip in abject frustration. Her arms folded together against her chest and she sighed.

"So, what do we do know?" Megan asked.

She hoped that one of these days she would actually have someone answer one of these question.

"Sit and wait," Su Li said shortly.

Megan thought that there would be an answer along those lines. The good news is that she learned that Harry was alive. The bad news was that she was more baffled than ever before.

' _Win a few, lose a few, I guess,'_ Megan mused to herself.

* * *

Blaise Zabini could not wait around for his associates to return back from Granger's house, he had an appointed at Gringotts that he intended to keep.

He took the side entrance he had been allowed and walked down the tunnels. There were no goblins he could see, because there was none that were supposed to be here.

Zabini stepped down the extremely dark hallways. The goblins should have been thanking him for all he did. He took down Potter, someone who had been in the thorn of the side of Benedict and his followers for a while now.

The young man heard something buzzing. He lifted up a mirror and held it to his face.

"Yes?" Zabini asked.

"We have an emergency situation," his contact said.

"I have business to take care of, deal with it," Zabini said swiftly. He couldn't be bothered about this.

"There's something that you should know….."

"It can wait five minutes!" Zabini snapped back. The man on the other end of the mirror fell silent. "I thought so, I'll be back, once I've dealt with my business!"

Zabini shoved the mirror back into his robes. It really was hard to find good help these days. The Slytherin entered the darkened room. Was it supposed to be this dark? He didn't know. He fumbled around for his wand and waved it.

The torches lit on the wall and Zabini stepped forward. The glint of gold flashed through his eyes. He stepped inside of the room.

"Benedict?" Zabini asked. "Where are you?"

He was not in the room. The goblins should have remembered that there was going to be a meeting today.

He turned around and spotted Benedict standing in the shadows. Zabini approached him.

"There you are," Zabini muttered.

He nearly jumped in the air when Benedict fell from the shadows at his feet. The goblin was dead even before he got here.

Several torches in the room blew out on their own accord. There was a small spotlight around the room that followed Zabini when he stumbled around the room in the dark.

There was something going on here. Zabini didn't know what. He was pretty sure that he didn't like it.

"Show yourself!" Zabini yelled.

There was nothing. The only light in the room was shined over Zabini and the rest of the room was pitch black. He looked like he was about to lose his nerve.

"Hello, Zabini."

That caused Zabini to take a step back and he held his wand in his hand. His hand shook when he looked around.

"What's the matter, Blaise?" a voice taunted him. "You looked like you've seen ghost!"

The spotlight followed Zabini around the room. He tried to pinpoint the source of the spotlight, but it was hard to get a light on him.

"No, this is some kind of goblin trick!" Zabini shouted at the top of his lungs. He managed to recover, at least enough to act all high and mighty. "You can try all you might, but it won't work! I'm onto your games, goblins!"

There was complete silence. The spotlight dimmed over Zabini and he was in pure darkness.

Zabini waved his wand around the room. He tried to get some lights back on. This was no good. His wand waved all over the room and there was nothing, not even a spark of light.

"I don't find this funny!" Zabini yelled.

The voice didn't respond. All Zabini heard was his echoing voice. He decided to rush towards the direction of the exit.

A loud crunch echoed and Zabini hit face first into a solid wall. His nose shattered from the impact.

Zabini whipped his wand and sent every single spell that he could think into the shadows.

Someone casually grabbed the tip of his wand and yanked it out of his hand. Zabini staggered back, when bright light entered the tunnel, illuminating the area.

Zabini placed a hand over his eyes and tried to avoid the blinding light going in his eyes. The light slowly dimmed.

When his eyes finally recovered, he came face to face with Harry Potter. He was dressed differently and he had a calmer demeanor on his face.

"You can't be alive, I killed you!" Zabini yelled when he finally found his voice.

"Yes, I know you did," Harry commented.

Zabini realized that he had lost his wand. He reached into his pocket to contact for him.

That was the last move that he ever made. Harry stabbed him in the chest. Zabini slumped over, blood oozing from his chest.

Zabini gasped when the blade was removed from his chest and he slumped over. Some kind of magical charm stopped him from bleeding completely out. All Harry had to do was release him and it would finish the job.

"So, Zabini, this HIVE that you tried to kill me over?" Harry asked.

"You won't get anything out of me, Potter," Zabini breathed.

"I figured as much, you don't know anything," Harry said. "I'm surprised you haven't been yelling from the rooftops that you were the one who defeated Harry Potter."

Zabini scowled at him, "You were supposed to be dead."

"We can't get everything that we want in life, Zabini," Harry said. "I'm sure that your bosses weren't too happy with what you did."

"Granger wasn't either," Zabini breathed. He could feel the hand of death dangling him an inch away from death.

Harry blinked, "I beg your pardon?"

"You don't know Potter?" Zabini asked. He sounded like he was pleased with giving him information. "Yes, the Mudblood, she has been an Agent of the HIVE all of this time. Must really hurt to be betrayed by someone like that, doesn't it?"

Harry's eyes looked rather still and calm.

Zabini continued to talk, as if his life depended on it, "Did you really think that her little acts to help magical creatures wouldn't have gotten through, if it wasn't for some external help? She really knows how to play the game."

There was no response from Harry. Zabini's body slackened and he closed his eyes.

"I should have been in her spot, there were a dozen of chances where you could have been taken care of, but she's never pulled the trigger," Zabini continued weakly. "But, I suppose it doesn't matter. You're going to heal me, aren't you, hero? And you're going to forgive her, because that's what you do, isn't it? Everything is going to be okay, when she plays you again. You might not remember it, when she wipes your memory again."

"And I'm going to believe you?" Harry asked.

His tone had no indication whether or not he believed Zabini one way or another.

"Believe what you wish, Potter," Zabini breathed. "You couldn't stop the HIVE. If your best friend could be a drone, you have to wonder who else they might have gotten to."

"Hermione and I haven't been friends since before she left to Australia," Harry informed him. "She made it very clear that she wanted to get ahead on her own merits."

"She no longer needed your reputation to get ahead, Potter," Zabini said. "So, go ahead, Potter, be the hero and let me go."

"Everyone is a hero in their own story and a villain in someone else's."

With those cutting words, Harry stabbed the Sword of Gryffindor through Zabini, finishing the job that he started.

"I got better," Harry informed his corpse. "But you won't."

The blood spilled from Zabini. Harry reached down and casually removed a chain from around Zabini's neck. The wand dangled in his hand and he looked at him.

Nyssa stepped from the shadows and walked towards her. She was tentative in her steps and even more so in her words.

"You took that a bit personally," Nyssa said. "Betrayal always does ring personal."

Harry remained absolutely quiet.

"When you exited the pit, you said that you were going to kill her," Nyssa continued. She thought that there was an unsettling amount of quiet coming from Harry.

The quiet didn't end. Harry looked at his old wand. It was like a relic to the past life. There seemed to be a lot of those going around.

"Zabini might not be the most accurate source," Nyssa commented.

"He might not be," Harry said, finally breaking his silence. He turned around and his gaze met Nyssa's. "But, I did return here to finish some unfinished business, didn't I? That was the point of this trial, before I moved on."

Harry put his wand into his pocket.

"I have one last thing for me to do, before I do that," Harry said. He grabbed Nyssa's hands and held them tight. "And I need to do this alone."

"Remember what my father told you about Damien Darhk," Nyssa warned him.

Harry pulled her in and kissed her on the lips. They met with a tingle of passionate fire. Nyssa sighed when Harry pulled away from her.

"Yes, I recall everything that your father has told me about the mistakes that he made," Harry said. "I know what to do now. I've been talked well."

"I'll join the others and wait for your return," Nyssa said.

Harry nodded, he had to change into clothes that would be less conspicuous when he went forward in this trial. Over the past couple of months, he learned a lot about himself, a lot more than he thought that he could.

* * *

Kingsley Shacklebolt thought that he could use a good and long vacation. This entire Ministry of Magic position, it was only supposed to be a temporary one. He was supposed to hold the fort down.

The only problem was that the Ministry was in a larger state of flux than ever before and he had to remain Minister for month after month, year after year. He had to slowly build up goodwill with other countries, which had been lost when Voldemort took things over. These other countries had their own problems, their own dark wizards even. A few who claimed themselves to be dark lords and even dark ladies in some cases, but none had the ambition of Voldemort.

Kingsley appreciated how bent Riddle was and also how much he was a genius. He sat down on his office.

There was a cabinet in his office that was passed down from Minister to Minister, and it was for emergencies only. Kingsley felt himself partaking in the emergency cabinet more often than ever before.

A door was knocked on and Kingsley grunted, "Enter."

One of his Ministry aides entered the office. She looked shell shocked, but recovered quickly.

"Minister Shacklebolt," the aide informed him. "You have a visitor, he says that it's urgent."

"Now?" Kingsley wondered. He took a long drink of coffee. "Well, I'm sure that it could wait, I've got to leave for a meeting with the International Confederation of Wizards in twenty…"

"It's Harry Potter," his aide said.

That response caused Kingsley to choke on what he was drinking. He started to cough, doubled over. He put his wand at his throat and performed a charm to clear his air passageway.

"Potter…well send him in," Kingsley said.

Harry Potter walked into Kingsley's office. "Hello, Minister…..I dare say that I'm rather late for work."

"Where did you go?" Kingsley demanded. "You left before Christmas…and it's almost March."

"Yes, I took your advice and took a long vacation," Harry said. "So, did the Ministry ever resolve the Lestrange investigation?"

Kingsley shook his head. He was still as flippant as ever. He couldn't blame Harry, but still, it frustrated him as the Minister.

"The Ministry had far more pressing concerns," Kingsley said. Harry raised his eyebrow. "It's not something that I can discuss, but rest assure, we're at a rather delicate state…..and technically, you're still on probation."

"Well, the Ministry has far more pressing concerns?" Harry asked. Kingsley confirmed with a nod that they did. "Then, I guess that I'd give you my resignation now. Would you prefer a two week notice, or should we just get this over now."

Harry extended his hand and Kingsley took it, shaking it.

"I'd hate to lose an Auror of your caliber, even though you've made me hate paperwork even more," Kingsley said. "But given the circumstances, it might be for the best if you leave right now."

"I agree," Harry confirmed. He let go of Kingsley's hand.

"The door is open for you to return down the road," Kingsley said. "When things, calm down."

He left the other part of that statement out.

' _If they calm down,'_ he mentally added.

The door behind them opened and Hermione stepped in, with a folder of documents, "Minister….everything that you need for your meeting is…..ready."

Her last word trailed off when she saw Harry Potter standing, talking to the Minister of Magic. Her mouth hung open.

"Hello, Hermione," Harry replied.

"You're back?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, it's good to see you," Harry said. He smiled when he stepped towards her. "Really good to see you."

"Yes, it's good to see you as well, Harry," Hermione said.

Harry had been sent through the veil and had somehow returned. The question was how had he returned. It was obvious that he didn't have all of his memories, given that he still acted like they were best friends like they were before Hermione went to Australia, when she decided that she wanted to succeed on her own merits.

"So, everything is in order, so you're good to go," Hermione responded. "Have a safe trip, Minister."

"Well, Mr. Potter, I'd hate to see you go, but it's good to see that you're still alive," Kingsley said.

"Why wouldn't I be alive?" Harry asked.

"Oh, you know, we're just concerned, because you didn't call into work for four months," Hermione said.

"Fair enough," Harry told her. "But there's no need to worry, I always get out of trouble, you should know that better than anyone else. After all, we are best friends, and some people assume that we're much more, given how close that we are. But, we are close, as close as a brother and a sister, wouldn't you agree, Hermione?"

"Yes, of course," Hermione agreed. "Have a safe trip Minister."

"I will, and I'll let the two of you catch up," Kingsley said. He thought the two of them had a falling out, but he realized that could be professional and not personal, and now that Harry was no longer working for the Ministry, any professional problems were gone.

Harry looked towards Hermione when Kingsley was gone.

"Hermione, I need to talk to you, in private," Harry said. "I need to show you something. I found out something about the Lestrange Brothers and who they were working for, and…..it's better if I show you, and not tell you."

Hermione recovered quickly, and nodded, "Well, lead the way, Harry."

She needed to assess exactly what memories Harry lost and what memories he had. He could be an extremely valuable asset, and she more importantly wanted to know how he survived the veil. Her curiosity was piqued.

The two of them walked down a little used path in the Ministry, and they made their way down towards the Department of Mysteries.

"We shouldn't be overheard down here," Harry informed her.

"No, we shouldn't," Hermione agreed. "Listen, Harry, this could be dangerous, are you sure it's worth the risk?"

"Hermione, you're the only one that I would trust with this information," Harry said. "You are the most brilliant witch of your age after all, so you'd know better than anyone else what to do with it."

Hermione's desire for information was once again triggered and she followed Harry down into the Department of Mysteries.

Harry stepped over and brought up the information about the HIVE and the Colony that was in the Department.

"They are working for these people," Harry said. "I think that they might have infiltrated the Ministry, they might have found their way in the Minister's office."

Hermione grew a bit tense and her fingers wrapped around her wand.

"You're the only one that I can trust," Harry said. "I was down here in December, and the next thing I knew, I woke up in the middle of nowhere, without any knowledge of how I got there. That was three days ago."

Hermione was lead into the Room of Death in the Department of Mysteries.

"The last thing I remembered is that I came down into the Department of Mysteries and there was nothing," Harry said. "Hermione, do you know of any spells to restore a person's memories?"

"Um….I can see what I can do, Harry, but this isn't like a memory charm," Hermione said.

"Thank you, Hermione….and I have to make a confession," Harry said. "Over the past ten years, I didn't say it enough, but I'm grateful for what you've done for me."

"That's what friends do, Harry," Hermione commented. She grabbed Harry's hand and squeezed it. "Don't worry, Harry, I'm here for you."

Hermione thought that Harry would be perfect, if he wasn't so blissfully ignorant. Of course, if Harry wasn't so blissfully ignorant, he would not have served the HIVE and their agenda that well for some many years.

"Thought about it, and I realize what you meant to me, and I think that I made a mistake, by not fighting harder for you," Harry said. "But, I've got a second chance, and I'm going to fix a mistake."

Hermione didn't have a chance to react and Harry threw his arms around her, kissing her forcefully.

She almost struggled, but she accepted the kiss. It was like an aphrodisiac to her and Hermione could feel herself succumb to him.

Harry pulled away from her and smiled at her.

Hermione suddenly felt a slight burning sensation spread through her lips and down her throat. She felt like her breathing grew rather heavy and her heart started to pump blood at a staggered rate.

"So, Hermione, you enjoy learning new things, the wonderful thing about Basilisk Venom is that it doesn't kill straight away," Harry informed her. "Over the first ten minutes, the person becomes paralyzed. Their movements are slow and dull, reflexes are lacking."

Harry disarmed Hermione of her wand and there was nothing that she could do about it.

"Over the next ten minutes, they slowly fade from existence. Each tick of the clock brings them closer to the end, as their intelligence fades. Memories burn away. Then over the next ten minutes, their organs finally shut down, succumbing to a poison. A stronger person might be bought a few more minutes."

Hermione looked at him, her fingers grew completely numb.

"And Phoenix Tears….they can heal the righteous, but they can lead to an extremely painful death for the wicked," Harry said. Hermione dropped to her knees and Harry cupped her chin. "Good thing I don't have any tears to shed for you."

"What…coated….lips…with Basilisk venom," Hermione managed. She wondered how it was possible.

"I have Basilisk Venom and Phoenix tears both running through my veins, dormant, thanks to the Chamber of Secrets," Harry reminded her. "Their gifts I can consciousness use if I choose, to help, or to hurt. I've learned a lot in the time that I was gone. But, now I remember everything, after returning from the veil."

Hermione had so many questions, but she didn't have much time.

"I didn't really know that you idolized Lockhart that much," Harry said to her, casually. "But, I guess you didn't want Harry to learn the truth about what was happening around him. I don't blame Dumbledore for what happened, at least not as much as I blame you. He was just as much of a pawn to the HIVE as I was. But, you pretended to be my friend, and I confided in you. I trusted you, which was the biggest mistake. Tell me, Mione, was it a lie?"

Harry knew she hated when anyone shortened her proper name, which was why he did it.

"Tell me before you die," Harry demanded. "Look me in the eye and tell me the truth for once."

"How dare you betray me like this, Harry Potter?" Hermione demanded.

"Oh, funny, never thought that you'd have a sense of humor," Harry commented. "You didn't suspect anything was up when I lead you down here, because you assumed that you were smarter than me. You believed them, when they said that you were the smartest witch of your age."

Harry cupped her chin and forced her to look into her eyes.

"Her name is Lily Evans and you aren't fit to polish her wand," Harry said. "So tell me, Hermione…..how much of our friendship was a façade? Was it all fake?"

"Not all, but most was," Hermione admitted. "I did almost forget my purpose at times, but….I was reminded when I went to Australia."

Harry didn't have time for conversation and Hermione wouldn't be able to speak in a couple more minutes.

"You condoned Snape doing this to me, so I figured that you won't mind me doing this to you," Harry said.

Hermione's mental shields were strong, but they were also conventional, by the book. He was able to dismantle them like they were tissue paper. He busted them down and entered her mind, gaining information about the HIVE.

"Harry, you don't understand what you're doing," Hermione begged him. "If I die….there will be no one to protect you. Every magical government in the world will be after your head, you will be branded as a Dark Lord and hunted down without mercy. The HIVE won't rest until they have your blood. Please, Harry, I'm sorry, I love you!"

Those words gave Harry the briefest of pause, but he detached himself. He didn't want to make the same mistake Ra's Al Ghul did that kick-started this entire mess in the first place.

"Friendship is important, and trust is extremely vital to me," Harry commented calmly. "But, I have been reborn, into something else entirely. The Harry Potter you knew, died when he went through the veil, but I'm certain that you're intelligent enough to figure that out."

"Harry, please, let me….please," Hermione whimpered.

Harry didn't say anything.

"You just can't leave me here to die," Hermione begged him.

"Don't worry, Hermione, I won't leave you to die alone," Harry informed her. He grabbed her hand and held it. "I'll be with you for the final moments. The last thing that you see will be the eyes of the same person that you betrayed. That will be the last thing you see, before you meet my humble servant, Death."

"Master of Death," Hermione breathed. "Oh my God."

"Not yet, but close," Harry corrected her. Hermione slipped into a catatonic state, when Harry pulled the last bit of information from her mind.

Harry sat with Hermione through the very last moment when she finally expired, sent on that next great adventure.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven: Let It Lie.**

* * *

Nyssa sat in the sitting room of the safe house and she peered outside of the window. She wondered what was taking him so long.

"It's Harry, I'm pretty sure that he's fine," Ginny said. Nyssa spun around and she nearly attacked Ginny. The redhead threw her hands up. "Wow, someone's pretty high strung tonight."

"I don't know why I allowed him to me into letting him go on that mission alone," Nyssa said.

Ginny casually leaned against the wall. She wore a skintight black leather suit that clung to her body. It was zipped up currently, showing only a modest amount of cleavage.

"You don't allow anything with Harry, he just does, and you worry about the consequences later," Ginny commented, when she sat down next to Nyssa. "And besides, you did agree that he had to deal with Granger on his own. That was a huge part of his trial to become the next head of the League of Assassins."

Nyssa would have to agree, but she didn't know whether or not how long it would be.

"I'll give him five more minutes," Nyssa replied. Ginny smiled.

Boy had she had been in this position before. And if Harry stayed true to form, he would be showing up right before time was up.

The door swung open and Harry Potter entered, carrying Hermione's body.

"You brought her body?" Ginny asked.

"Darhk may have access to a Lazarus Pit, I'm not leaving anything to chance," Harry informed them both.

Nyssa nodded and looked rather pleased with what he did, "Good, you're learning."

"I figured that you'd be happy," Harry said. He placed Hermione down onto the ground and her body remained prone.

Ginny wondered if it would be inappropriate to kick her limp body. She decided to use discretion, but it really was surreal to see her body there after all of that.

"So, that's it, she's dead?" Ginny asked.

"As for Zabini…."

"His body has been burned already," Nyssa informed. "Even though I highly doubt that he would be of much value to the HIVE, given how expendable he was. Especially after he jumped the gun and tried to have you kill without any kind of consent."

Harry thought that was likely the case, but he was not going to leave anything to consent. Hermione's body was on the couch.

"So, did she suffer?" Ginny asked quietly.

"In a sense," Harry answered. He stepped back from her slain body. "I needed to kill her to be free."

Harry felt a huge weight lifted off of his chest. He wished that Hermione was the person that he thought that she was, for seven long years. Of course, parts of that memory had been compromised. There were times where she nearly became the mask, but it was all part of a greater deception.

She chose her path in life, just like he chose his.

"Do you have the diary?" Harry asked Nyssa.

"Yes, Cassandra and Ginny liberated it….along with Megan Jones, the reporter, who was also suspicious of what she was doing," Nyssa informed him.

Harry was curious regarding that.

"You brought her here?" Harry asked. He wasn't upset, just asking a question.

"Figured that she could come in handy, given that she might have access to information that might not have made the papers," Ginny suggested with a shrug. "I mean, after external interference."

"What did you find out from her?" Nyssa asked.

Harry didn't say anything. He wanted the journal. Cassandra slipped into the room, holding the bag.

"She's currently asleep," Cassandra said, answering Harry's unasked question.

Harry held the journal. He pulled exactly how to activate it from Hermione's mind before she expired. He was pretty sure that most, if not all, of the information he pulled out of her mind was contained in the journal.

The journal broke open and a holographic display appeared. Harry scrolled down the list and committed the information to memory.

"Eight HIVE strongholds in Europe," Harry muttered. "But, that's just a drop in the hat, because Darhk has had plenty of time to amass resources all over the world."

"We can put a sizable dent of in his resources," Nyssa said. "Does he have access to a Lazarus Pit?"

The Pits were all over the world. Some of them had become tainted. Nyssa knew of one in particular in the Midwestern United States that had been tainted by mysterious green meteor rocks. The League had it under careful watch, because that was a Pit that was extremely dangerous.

"Nothing in here, but that doesn't mean anything," Harry said. He looked over the information in the journal. "There's a list of at least two hundred witches and wizards throughout Europe who are working with the HIVE, in some form or fashion."

Harry recognized some of the names. A couple of them surprised him, but given what he went through, he wasn't really surprised. He knew by now after Hermione never to be surprised by anything like that.

"Could some of them know more than she did?" Ginny asked.

"Maybe," Harry said. He was willing to entertain the notion. "Damon….he was rather high up the food chain."

"But he's not Darhk?" Nyssa asked.

"No, he isn't," Harry confirmed. "At least as far as she knew he wasn't, but he might know who Darhk is given his seniority in the HIVE food chain."

Ginny knew by now that things wouldn't be that easy.

"Damon always met her at an Inn in Knockturn Alley," Harry said. "But, the only problem is that she always set up the meetings."

"And he must have found out about what happened by now, when his little worker bee didn't make it back to her station," Nyssa said.

Harry figured that might be a minor problem. Solve one problem, create two more, that was an unfortunate recurring theme that wouldn't leave him alone.

"Guess, I shouldn't have killed her, then," Harry said.

"No, if you didn't kill her, she would have escaped, and we would have had a problem of a different kind," Nyssa said. "And we wouldn't have the information that we had."

"Nyssa has a point," Cassandra chimed in. She paused and frowned. "Is that…..no….it can't be!"

Ginny was terrified because of how scared Cassandra seemed. Given how the girl was calm for the most part and held her emotions back. That's what made her such a great assassin.

"Can you make that bigger?" Cassandra asked.

Harry pressed his hand into the page and he blew up the page that was on. There was a formula flashed up.

"Okay, a bunch of chemicals, and….I don't get any of it," Ginny said.

"It's not complete," Cassandra replied.

"Access log," Harry said.

Hermione's voice gave a little more information.

"HIVE has worked in an attempt to replicate a super soldier serum first created by the Japanese during the second World War, known as Mirakuru. The serum causes enhanced physical strength, stamina, endurance, durability, agility, and an enhanced healing factor when injected. The side effects include hallucinations and a severe case of paranoia, along with increased aggression by the subject. We have not been able to replicate the full serum. The only known sample has been lost at sea, and HIVE has not been able to locate it just yet. Three attempts to recreate the serum have fallen flat. Our test subjects have all died within hours, with only three lasting more than a day. My recommendation is to double our efforts to find the original sample, because we can reverse engineer it and mass produce enough to create an army."

Harry waited for Hermione's voice to fade out.

"A super soldier serum like that?" Nyssa asked.

"Not a myth, it's real, the Department of Mysteries studied it," Cassandra answered. "And a team went to try and locate the lost sample. None of them ever returned. Legend has it that it was lost in purgatory."

The group allowed all of that to sink in.

"That's foreboding, isn't it?" Ginny asked.

"I have all of the information that the Department of Mysteries has uncovered about where the submarine was likely to have been," Cassandra continued.

"Nyssa, arrange for the HIVE strongholds to be taken out," Harry said. Nyssa nodded in response. "Cassandra, do what you can to get me every bit of information regarding that submarine. Even if it is completely irrelevant."

Harry could see a pair of brown eyes watching him from the doorway. She slipped away, but it was too late.

"And Ginny, it's time for you and I to put an old friend to rest, properly," Harry said, almost as an afterthought.

* * *

Harry and Ginny stood over Hermione's body a little bit later, when it was laid out in front of them. Ginny was a bit uneasy when she looked at it.

"After all that, I don't really know what to say," Ginny murmured.

"If it makes you feel better, I don't really know what to say either," Harry informed her.

"When do you think that she reached the point of no return?" Ginny asked.

"She was just told by Dumbledore to stick close to me at first, he was following his marching orders from higher up, and she didn't really question it, given how she lived to please older men in authority because of her strained relationship with her father," Harry said.

Ginny wrinkled her nose, "It's…..it just seems so wrong when you say it that way, you know what I mean."

Harry placed his hand on Ginny's.

"Little bits of information that Hermione found were fed to her by Dumbledore," Harry said. "She did have a gift, a photographic memory. It's just that HIVE wanted to commit their photographs to her mind….if that makes any sense."

Ginny nodded in response.

"It was not until third year where the initial betrayal happened," Harry said. "She knew about Sirius. I can't say whether or not Dumbledore knew though."

"Should we assume that he did?" Ginny asked.

"Well, Dumbledore's either not as knowledgeable as he passes himself to be, extremely negligent, or grossly corrupt," Harry said. "I think that you figured that out with the Chamber of Secrets."

"Yes, and that was somehow my fault, despite the adults who should have known better not realizing that something might be wrong with me," Ginny said. Harry squeezed her hand extremely tightly and she nodded.

"Nothing there was your fault," Harry said.

Ginny shook her head, "You know what's funny."

"What?" Harry asked.

"If I didn't notice my diary was missing, and made my parents go back for it, none of that year would have happened," Ginny said. "Guess when a butterfly flaps its wings, things change, but we're different."

Harry doubted that the compulsion on the diary would allow Ginny to forget it, and to be honest ,he didn't really want to spend much time splitting hairs over what might have been.

"I confronted her about the time turner, because it seemed a bit odd that a school student would get a dangerous magical artifact to take a couple of extra classes," Harry said. "Turns out that she used the time turner for more training….she was recruited to an exclusive magical club when she was thirteen years old, which was tied into the HIVE."

"Did you look at all of her memories?" Ginny asked.

"Most of them," Harry said. "I figured given that she did the same to be at times, and condoned others, turnabout was fair play. I caught her doing it once….during my sixth year."

"And what did she do?" Ginny asked.

"Memory charmed me, and it wasn't for the first time she did that, she did it at least three other times and dozens of confundo spells, including once after the Goblet of Fire," Harry said. He spoke in an extremely detached voice. "And she thought that she was doing it to protect me."

She did have a misguided perception of what love was. In Hermione's mind, love was nagging a person and causing them to fall into line, and if they didn't do what she said, that she felt betrayed.

Ginny allowed that all to settle in. She didn't really know the extent of what happened between Harry and Hermione.

"And that's not counting the dozens of times I told her things in confidence, that she passed to Dumbledore and her bosses in the HIVE," Harry commented. "But, I'm no longer mad at what she did. I'm not even mad at Dumbledore, really either, or even Snape, really. I'm glad that I'll never have to see them again, after all they've done."

It was over now. Harry leaned over Hermione's body. He reflected. There were some good memories there, to be honest, but a lot of it had been a façade. Hermione wore many masks, and towards the end, she deceived even herself.

"She said the HIVE would hunt me down, she said that every magical government would hunt me down as a dark lord," Harry said. "We'll see who the hunter and who the hunted is."

Ginny shivered. There was something about Harry's tone that really unsettled her to be honest. Harry touched Hermione's body and she burst into flames before them.

The ashes fluttered down to earth and they blew into the wind.

"Let it lie," Harry said.

Ginny knew by now that they were leaving. She turned around and looked down at the ashened remains of Hermione.

She felt that a new era of her life had been opened up.

* * *

Nyssa made her way forward to one of the strongholds. Most of them were straight forward and could be picked apart by the League.

Harry needed to be here with her to take out this one. And there he was, behind her, along with the small group of assassins that Nyssa rounded up.

"You haven't told your father about this," Harry murmured.

"He doesn't need to know every little detail," Nyssa said.

"Good," Harry responded.

"And the less who know about this, the better," Nyssa said. "The League might not be the perfectly tight knit group that my father assumes it to be. That's why I kept it to a small group of loyalists what we're doing, at least until it's done."

If Nyssa learned anything, it was far easier to beg for forgiveness, than ask for permission. Plus, if she was to serve Harry and his plans, she would need to put her faith in what he wanted to do.

"There's a guard there, and there," one of her assassins said.

"The guards aren't the problem, what you see aren't the problem, it's everything that's around the perimeter is what's the problem," Harry said. "When the guards switch, we can move in….follow my lead, and don't divert, for no reason."

The assassins turned towards Nyssa, if asking for confirmation.

"He knows," Nyssa said. "Follow him."

Harry made his way. He committed the exact pathway to memory from Hermione's memories. He avoided all of the blind spots.

He stopped and stepped back. His assassins copied their movement and Nyssa lifted up a bow and drew back.

"Now," Harry muttered.

Nyssa caught the assassin with an arrow to the neck and it doubled him over. Harry darted over and picked up the key, pressing it in the door.

"Disable, 0-8-3-4," Harry said. He turned around and faced the assassins. "We have twenty minutes."

Harry broke open the door and there were stacks of gold and jewels in front of them. That looked promising to be honest. Each stronghold had a small reserve of liquid assets available, and now they were under Harry's control.

They picked up a few of the weapons as well, mostly so Harry could find a way to reverse engineer and counteract him. He had no use for magical artifacts at all, because most of them were power leeches.

The interesting thing was that these weapons weren't completely magical artifacts. There was some technological components to them, he couldn't figure out exactly what they were, but he was willing to find out.

"We found it," one of them informed him.

Harry made his way down the steps and broke open. There was a glass case and inside the glass case, there was a blue artifact that resembled a scarab of some sort. The HIVE found it and studied it, but they had never been able to get it working.

He carefully had the assassins lift the case.

Harry had all that he wanted and set up an explosive device, about to send the entire complex sky high.

Most of the artifacts he left to be blown up within the next ten minutes were completely redundant and there was really no need for them to be left there. They slipped all out.

Nyssa and Harry watched the complex blow up sky high. They would move onto the next one, although this one had the more valuable resources.

The other ones had some promising items, but to be honest, this was the most profitable of all of the strongholds that Hermione knew of.

* * *

The mysterious hooded individual known as Mr. Damon tapped his fingers on the edge of the chair where he was sitting. So far, he had not heard from his favorite worker bee, and he wanted to know why.

"Hermione is many things, but not punctual is one of them," he told his assistant.

"She hasn't been seen at the Ministry of Magic," a young man in the shadows popped up. "The last time she was seen was walking to the Minister's office to give him a folder that he needed for his meeting with the International Confederation of Wizards."

"Yes, but did anyone see her leave the office?" Damon asked.

"I was caught up in an emergency, something to loose from the Improper Use of Magic office, it was an old jukebox that we were trying to troubleshoot," the man said with a shrug. "Some of our other drones in the office….they wouldn't have seen her because they weren't on that floor."

"There's no reason to assume that she's in any danger though," another drone piped up.

"The HIVE doesn't make assumptions," Damon said.

"Well, there was a rumor, but that would be making an assumption," the drone said. Damon reached forward and grabbed his shoulder hard. He felt the energy draw out of him and his knees nearly buckled.

"I kindly tell you not to patronize me," Damon said in a harsh tone. The drone nearly fell over onto the ground. "And tell me what this so called rumor was."

"Rumor has it that…..Zabini and the goblin prince got into a fight with each other, and…..ended up killing each other," the drone said, barely able to breath.

"Zabini is all used up," Damon said harshly. "What about Hermione?"

"We don't know, but….there was this other rumor that….Harry Potter….entered the Ministry," the drone said. "Or someone posing as him, but he was spotted outside of the Ministry about an hour before Shacklebolt left."

"Can you verify this?" Damon asked.

"Potter is dead," the drone offered. Damon grabbed that drone by the throat and choked him down to his knees, draining the life energy from him.

"I warned you," Damon said. "He may have escaped from the Veil….I'd…"

Damon stopped and stared. He could hear something humming in his hand. He lifted it up and he got a report that put him in an even worse mood than ever before. This was the handiwork of only one person.

"The League," Damon muttered underneath his breath. "How did they find out about this?"

Three of the strongholds had been taken out and utterly demolished. A team of drones arrived to each site, but they had arrived a little too late. All of the resources had been cleaned out.

"Ra's Al Ghul just can't let the past go," Damon said. "He doesn't realize that the HIVE is the future, and his League is a relic of the past."

Given his agents in the Ministry were being thinned out, Damon needed to regroup what they had and reach out to any sympathetic ears possible. They needed to find Hermione Granger as well.

The thought she might have turned traitor out of some guilt was pushed out of his mind. That made Damon wonder who he could trust.

He would need to move higher up the chain, to await further instructions on how to proceed from here.

* * *

Megan really hated to admit it, but she honestly felt like a fifth wheel. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot nervously on the ground.

She had been given three square meals a day and got a nice bedroom, with a bathroom built on. Su Li and Ginny both informed her that Harry was busy, but she needed to stick around at least until she spoke to.

Megan thought briefly about sneaking off into the night, but she wasn't even that self-destructive. She flipped through the latest newspaper. There was no news about the death of Hermione Granger and anyone had a clue that Harry Potter was back, they certainly weren't saying anything.

"They could still be sticking their heads underneath the sand," Megan murmured. She flipped through the paper.

She had to read between the lines. As an afterthought, negotiations had been reopened between the goblins and the Ministry. The International Confederation of Wizards were said to have made a deal with Minister Shacklebolt that would lead to a peaceful time for all of the witches and wizards of Great Britain.

Megan honestly was surprised that the ICW actually made this deal, given how Britain was the redheaded step child of the European Magical Union after the war with Voldemort. But, maybe she was wrong.

Politics always was a fun little headache. They doubted that those countries would bail out the Ministry, unless it greatly affected their bottom line.

A firm knock on the door caused Megan's eyes to look up.

"Well, this is your house, isn't it?" Megan inquired to whoever was behind the door. "Don't worry, I'm not dancing around here my underwear or less even."

"That's a real shame."

The door opened and Megan came face to face with Harry Potter. She nearly got up to her feet.

"They mentioned that you would come by to see me," Megan said.

"Well, you did get a nice little glimpse of me," Harry informed her.

Megan tried to protest, but Harry smiled when he sat down next to her.

He got a good look at the brown haired girl. She wore a black shirt that fit around her ample breasts and it rode up to show her midriff when she leaned back to get a better look at Harry. She wore a plaid skirt against her legs, going down a little bit past her knees.

"Can't you blame a girl?" Megan asked.

"Not really," Harry admitted.

"So, what really happened between you and Hermione Granger?" Megan asked.

"Really, of all the questions you could have asked of me, that's the one?" Harry asked.

Megan threw her hands back and she sighed.

"You know, it was really the first question that popped into my mind," Megan murmured.

Harry looked completely serious.

"She wasn't the friend that I thought that she was, she lied to me, and told my secrets to people when I trusted her not to," Harry said.

"Wow, that was really awful," Megan said. "I always thought that there was something a bit phony about her….I don't know why. I never got why the two of you were friends, and you were friends with Ron Weasley."

Megan paused.

"Did he betray you as well?" Megan asked.

Harry laughed.

"Ron's only crime was having an inferiority complex a mile long," Harry said. "He has some base motivations that make it really easy to see where he's coming from. Food, Quidditch, food, chess, food, and….did I mention food?"

"You may have," Megan said. "He's with the Cannons now?"

"Far as I know," Harry with a shrug. That little conversation that he had with Megan was the most that he talked or thought about Ron Weasley in years. "But, we've got a bit of a problem with you."

"Yeah, I guess I'm trouble," Megan said. "So….guess that I have you to thank for me not getting killed."

"The HIVE knows that you're investigating them, and when it comes out that Hermione is dead, they're going to be on the warpath," Harry said. "I don't think that you want to be around, do you?"

Megan nodded in response.

"The moment I leave here, I'm dead," Megan said. She actually realized that she had a dangerous job. "Just like Luna Lovegood."

"Yes, just like her," Harry said.

"Did Hermione have her killed?" Megan asked.

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, "No, she didn't….she was actually furious when it happened."

"You mean she actually cared?" Megan asked.

"Not necessarily cared, but thought that Luna could have had potential," Harry explained. "And she wasn't the conventional type, but Luna did see the world in her own special way. And not many people understood that perspective. I'm really surprised that Hermione understood what she could see."

"If she could see what would happen, why did she die?" Megan asked.

"Well, she might have had a blind spot where she could see anything that didn't directly involve herself," Harry suggested. "Or maybe, Luna saw what happened and let it play out, because there could be dire consequences if it didn't."

"I don't suppose that you couldn't work any of that master of death mojo to call upon her shade and ask her to clarify," Megan said.

"It doesn't necessarily work the way that you think it works," Harry said. "It's extremely painful for someone who is at peace to be unnaturally brought back from beyond. Also, I think that if Luna anticipated her own death, she embraced it. She did say that one day she would see her mother again and she looked forward to it."

Megan had to admit that was likely. She really didn't know Luna all that well. She had a few polite conversations with the girl at Hogwarts, but they had been passing moments. Like two people passing through the hallway.

She really didn't start understanding what the girl came from until she delved deep into her past when investigating her murder. And she knew that the same accident which claimed Luna's mother, also was responsible for giving Luna her gift.

It was an attempt to tap into the beyond, or at least that's what Luna figured. There were a lot of things that no one was meant to tamper with though. Luna got that unique perspective.

If Megan had to hazard a guess, every one of those creatures her father talked about, was something Luna saw. They did exist, although not on the mortal plane. It was like Luna walked between two worlds.

"It might have pained Luna to be physically bound to one world and emotionally bound to another," Harry added. "I may have to discuss this with Death, when I get with her next."

"Right, over Sunday brunch, gotcha," Megan said. She was half joking, but Harry looked completely serious.

"You know, the term Master of Death is actually fairly literal," Harry commented. "I met her."

Megan opened her mouth and she closed it. She suddenly understood where Harry was coming from and she could have slapped herself.

"Well, guess that you don't do normal, do you?" she asked.

"Try not to," Harry said.

"So, you're really interesting, Harry Potter," Megan commented. "There are a few wizards who take a couple of wives, depending on their family situation, and a few mistresses on the side, but it seems like you can do much more."

"What are you implying?" Harry asked.

"Well, there was really very few wizards of your caliber," Megan said. "I mean, sure Dumbledore was powerful, but he was the biggest closet case ever, it was just a wonder that none of us have seen what was dancing in front of our faces. Rita pretty much spelled it out the best she could without crossing the line."

"Hmm, you have a point," Harry said.

"And Voldemort, he spent way too much time playing with his snake to have interest with any women," Megan answered. "And I think that many feared that you would go that way...be so withdrawn that a monk would call you prudish. Either that, or Granger wouldn't let you out to play."

"She's gone," Harry said. "And yet, I'm still here."

"Right, you're here, and I'm here, and…..well….." Megan said. She bit down on her lip, looking at him. "So your wand is eleven inches?"

Harry raised his eyebrow.

"You're getting into some rather racy territory, Miss Jones," Harry said, with a knowing smile on his face. He calmly rested his hand on her thigh.

"I mean the wood wand, the one that you performed magic with, although I'm sure you can perform some real magic with the other wand," Megan commented without missing a beat. "I'm wondering if the theory is true, where the size of the wizard's wand corresponds with his….other wand."

Harry gave her a "hmm".

"Freud must have spent some time in the Wizarding World with theories like that," Megan added, with a shrug. She could feel his hand resting on her bare thigh and she could feel a warm sensation going up her leg. "And well….that would explain why a lot of wizards when they got under start favoring a really large staff….because they're obviously compensating for something. Just like Lucius Malfoy and his pimp cane."

"I do not want to even think about what Lucius's pimp cane implies," Harry informed her. "But I do know this….my wand and my wand match up almost perfectly."

He watched when her skirt rolled up a little bit, showing him a hint of her lacy black panties. Harry scented her arousal and he looked at her breasts. Her chest lowered and rose and he saw some deliciously hard nipples poking out from behind her blouse. He wondered if she was wearing a bra or if she was that aroused.

"Almost perfectly?" Megan asked.

"It's a little off," Harry admitted. "Not by much though, about an inch or so."

"The one in your pants or the one in your hand?" Megan asked. She closed her eyes. "Yeah, that came out really well, Megan….sorry, I keep putting my foot in your mouth."

"Perhaps you'd like something else in your mouth," Harry said to her. He got closer to her, his other hand resting on her lower back.

Megan looked into his bright green eyes, which proved to be her undoing. Her heart kept thumping even harder.

"You're the investigative journalist," Harry said, his hand brushing lightly against her ass and he leaned forward. "Perhaps you'd like to investigate?"

Harry removed his hand from Megan's thigh and placed it on his crotch. That caused her to gain the confidence that she needed.

He leaned forward and gave her a fiery kiss on the lips. She returned and threw herself onto his lap, wrapping his arms around him. She smiled when his hands slowly went behind her and removed her skirt.

She was sitting on his lap, wearing a lacy pair of black panties, a garter belt, and sheer black stockings. Harry slowly ran all the way down her leg and caused her to whimper.

Megan slid down to her knees and unbuckled his pants, so she could get a closer look.

* * *

Harry pulled his away from Megan, and Ginny kissed her on the lips.

"Congratulations, you passed the test," Ginny breathed.

Megan was half conscious from what happened.

"I think you better wait until she recovers until you tell her what you have in mind for her," Ginny said. She scooted towards Harry and her naked, body pressed up against his. "I wonder what we can do to pass the time?"

"What indeed," Harry replied.

 **To Be Continued.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve: Hijacked.**

* * *

Harry sent Megan off on her way, making sure to send Ginny with her. Ginny understood the important mission that she had to undertake and the fact that the goblin princess owed Harry a really big favor, his plans were suited really well.

He sat, extremely calm, and plotted his next move. The Ministry was operating at their usual level of competence. The HIVE had been staggered by Harry's latest plan and there was a serious amount of resources sucked right away from him.

Harry figured that this was only a small drop in their overall resources. He looked over the weapon that was on the table that he secured.

"A weapon that you would bring into battle?" Nyssa asked him.

"No, it won't even be a weapon that I would use to defend from prowlers," Harry answered. He kept one eye on her when she entered the room. She sat down next to him. "I do think that it's not completely a magical artifact."

"And what makes you say that?" Nyssa asked.

Harry casually cracked open the wood part of the spear. A few sparks flew out and Harry showed her a few of the wires inside.

"Not many magical artifacts are wired like this," Harry informed her. Nyssa blinked and she nodded in response. "So, what troubles you?"

"Much, actually," Nyssa commented. "I always thought that I would be the Heir of the Demon, and when I saw you be brought in….an outsider, I didn't know what to think."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure you wanted to displace me, but you didn't dare to face your father or betray his will," Harry said.

"There were many ways to make your death look like a punishment, and put myself at my father's feet to ask of his forgiveness," Nyssa said. "It wouldn't be the first time he sought out a heir, and he fell completely short of his expectations."

"But, his past heirs hadn't mastered Death, have they?" Harry asked.

"What is it about you, that inspires such loyalty within people?" Nyssa asked.

"I don't know," Harry admitted. "I guess that's the thing, I've just always went where I needed to and people followed me."

Nyssa looked into his green eyes and she frowned. She could tell that he was preoccupied with something.

"So far, they haven't demonized you?" Nyssa asked.

"No, they haven't mentioned me much," Harry said. "For the most famous person in their world, I've been pretty much regulated to a non-person."

"Did it ever occur to you that she was lying through her teeth to spare her own wretched skin?" Nyssa asked.

It was obvious that Nyssa had a certain distaste regarding Hermione.

"It has occurred to me, yes," Harry informed her. He reached over and touched the top of her hand, gently, in warning. "And she told me what she thought was the truth. That didn't stop her from being misled though."

Nyssa would have to agree.

"She hated Zabini so much, and thought that he thought of himself above his station and his purpose," Harry replied. "Now, could you do me a favor, Nyssa? Could you stop bringing her up to me?"

"My apologizes," Nyssa said.

"As long as it doesn't happen again, if not….I'll be displeased," Harry said.

Nyssa did not want that, given that he pretty much controlled what pleasure that she got now. And he could take that away. She was dominant to the women that she took it, but with Harry, she was less so. There was a part of her that hated that, but yet another, growing part, was glad for the loss of control.

It was weird and it was something that she was not accustomed to.

"So, you brought the reporter in on this," Nyssa said.

"Not necessarily, she's not in the League, she's working for me directly," Harry commented. "I've got a few people that owe me some favors, and having people in the media that favor me will be good for my agenda when I ascend."

That was a revelation for Nyssa and she didn't think that Harry would be this ambitious. She thought that he would be like the other perspective heirs. Granted, some were before her time, so she could only tell second hand information.

"The idea that I could have an entire League of well trained-assassins at my beck and call is useful, but limited," Harry said. "There are other resources that I could acquire. If the HIVE has taught us one thing is that control of the government controls the perception of people. But, the media can shape their perception. And intel is useless without the proper people to acquire it. I need not train everyone to fight. Not everyone is a fighter, not everyone is a warrior. But that doesn't mean that they are useless."

Nyssa gave this matter consideration.

"You've known that life for the moment that you were born, you had expectations for greatness, didn't you?" Harry asked.

"Expectations I should have met many times over," Nyssa said.

"You will never be appreciated by your father," Harry commented to her calmly. "But, I can see how skilled you are. You have the potential for greatness, ruling by my side."

"The Pit has shaped you well, hasn't it?"

Cassandra turned up, carrying a box full of information. She set it down on the table.

"It was very easy to get what I wanted," Cassandra responded. "And….if only this Harry Potter was seen by the Wizarding World."

"I would have been branded as a Dark Lord, and hunted down," Harry said.

"Isn't that what…." Cassandra said, and she stopped short of saying the taboo name. Nyssa nodded. "Isn't that what you think that the HIVE intends to do?"

"The HIVE has bigger problems to worry about," Harry remarked.

"They do indeed, they think my father is going after them," Nyssa said. "You do realize that you're going to have to face him."

"I assumed that when I faced him, I would take the mantle of the Demon's Head," Harry said. "And there's only one way that I can ascend to that thrown. I'm surprised that you never thought to challenge your father to a duel of ascension."

Nyssa frozen when he asked her that.

"It never occurred to me," Nyssa said. She was good, she would admit that, but her father was the Head of the League for a very good reason. There were those who challenged him, they didn't end up in a favorable position. Granted, those challenges were before her time.

"I think that you might have stood a better chance than you thought, if you thought of him as an obstacle to your destiny, and not your father," Harry reminded him. "But, I guess that you were scared that you would lose."

"I didn't….I didn't fear my father," Nyssa said.

She got to her feet and withdrew her sword. She swung it at Harry, who casually blocked it with his hand.

There was a swift, but intense sword fight.

"You talked to me about indecision, and how that's dangerous for a warrior," Harry answered. He blocked her sword, and disarmed it. He went behind her. "The first time we dueled, you wiped the floor with me….but now…..I think things are different now."

Nyssa rolled out of his arm hold and threw a dagger at him. He blocked it. She withdrew a bow and shot an arrow. He casually got her shot.

"You know everything that I can do, before I can even do it," Nyssa said. She tried to take Harry out, but he casually stepped to the side. "You're in my head."

"A true warrior exploits every advantage they can," Harry said and he took her down, putting her down on the ground. "And I don't think that I have work that hard to get into your head, beloved."

"Careful, arrogance, goes before a fall," Nyssa said. She was allowed up to her feet, and tried to pierce Harry.

She was blocked again and Harry, took her down onto the ground. Nyssa dropped to both knees, and Harry pinned her down once again.

"You've taught me well," Harry informed her. "And you're fighting a battle within your own mind that's distracting you. You don't understand why you've lost control. But, I have control, and I can control you….like this."

Harry made a gesture with his finger and Nyssa felt a hundred little touches caress her body. It was a brief second.

"Don't worry, I do not wish to have you as my servant, I wish to have you as an equal," Harry said. "And for the record, my dear Nyssa, I never once read your mind. I can tell what you're about to do, because I've studied you. Just like I studied Cassandra, and just like I've snuck off every night, to watch Ra's Al Ghul, and learn more about him."

"You spied on my father?" Nyssa asked.

"He's as good as they say, and better," Harry answered. "But Death's touch has given me true invisibility that any warrior would be envious of."

Harry allowed that to sink in. He technically was one with the Hallows and Death always seemed to be with him, even though she didn't make her presence known. He was far from invincible, and such thoughts would lead to trouble.

"Do you still wish to kill me?"

"Oh, it's tempting, given how much you're riling me up," Nyssa said. She threw her arms around Harry's neck and shoved him against the wall.

She squeezed his neck hard, and kissed him intensely. Harry held her back against the wall and kept kissing her hard.

Cassandra cleared her throat. They had gone from killing each other, to this.

"Not to break up this moment that you're having," Cassandra said. "But I have the information that you wanted, no matter how trivial it seems."

Harry picked open the box that Cass brought him, there was a lot of ragged correspondence and a log that had been recovered from the Department of Mysteries. Some of the pages were damaged or ripped out. Harry frowned when he brushed his finger over the page. He managed to see a partial set of coordinates.

He summoned over the journal. Did the HIVE know anything about these coordinates? There was only one way to find out.

* * *

Harry sat on the Astral Plane sometime later. He knew that he was going to run into Death. He sensed it all evening.

"Many men court Death, but you're the one who actually succeeds."

Death stepped out of the darkness and in front of Harry.

"If only you had tapped into your full potential much sooner," Death commented. "Master, each year, the balance fades. More men and women run from me, and I have chase them. Some, I almost want to let go. But, it's very few."

"Only the truly wicked seek eternal life," Harry said.

"The story is the same, Riddle was one that should have been brought before me sixteen years before he was," Death said. "I had to settle for acquiring his soul in pieces."

"Well, I sent the rest of him to you, over time," Harry remarked.

"You did," Death agreed. She crossed the stone floor beneath them. Her dark eyes met his. "And soon you will send me another conquest that I have been waiting years to acquire. Two of them, if you can be lucky enough to maneuver it."

"So, what have I become, your repo man to collect the souls that have been overtaxed?" Harry asked her.

"More like a bounty hunter," Death said. Harry raised his eyebrow "But this is just one part of our design, Master."

Death was as cryptic as ever. That was the nature of the job she was in.

"Do you realize what it all means?" she asked him.

'I do," Harry confirmed. "Three days, I need to be there."

"Three days, you will be, where you need to be," Death said. "You always are, in a roundabout way. I would have chosen you to be my Master. Pity those who try and harm those who are underneath your protection."

And by cheating Death, people would be insulting her greatly, and since she was one of Harry's girls, that was a cardinal sin as far as the future Demon's Head and Master of Death was concerned.

* * *

An attractive and well-built woman with dark hair and brown eyes made her way to the meeting place. She wore a nice professional button up black top and a pair of jeans that fit over her form. She carried a case in her hand.

"Hello, Mrs. Wilson, or I guess that it's Ms. Kane once again."

The dark haired woman turned and spotted a silver haired man with his hair tied back in a ponytail approach him. He wore a combination of red and yellow, along with some black in the strange robes that he was wearing.

A slender woman with dark skin dressed in regal looking attire, with a crown to match. She was stunningly beautiful, but she was the type of women beneath that beauty that had a sinister air to it.

The dark haired woman looked at both of them, confused.

"I thought that I was meeting with Hermione Granger today, to discuss an exchange of goods and services," the woman commented with a frown on her face.

"Adeline Kane, is that right?" the man asked. "Former bounty hunter, former mercenary, now working as an operative the government, ARGUS, if we're not mistaken."

Adeline was very concerned that he rattled off that much of her biography.

"And you are?"

"Merely a drone," he commented in a bored voice. "I know that you've been discussing selling information to Miss Granger, for the right price."

"Yes, to her directly," Adeline reminded them. "She agreed to help me locate my daughter, and she knew that I had information that would benefit her Ministry, to help them track down fugitives who were hiding out in North America. And I would help her Aurors bring them in."

"We still have the resources to help you, Ms. Kane," the regal looking woman informed her.

"Where is Hermione?" Adeline asked.

"Miss Granger is currently on a leave of absence, her workload has gotten to her, the poor child," the woman commented.

Adeline recognized the woman instantly. She was the current ruler of Bialya, Queen Bee. She had taken over the country just recently through a violent coup, ending a brutal civil war that had gone on for a decade.

"Well, my agreement was with Hermione," Adeline said. "I'm afraid that I'm going to hold out on any information until I meet with her."

"Mr. Damon is disappointed that you are acting that way, Miss Kane," the drone responded.

"As I said, my agreement is with Hermione, and not with…the HIVE," Adeline responded.

"So you've done your homework, well done," Queen Bee said. She raised her hands above the table and applauded her. "And you've grown to think of Hermione as a surrogate replacement to your own lost daughter, haven't you?"

Adeline didn't respond.

"And you think that she's been led astray by some really bad people, haven't you?" Queen Bee asked her.

"What I think doesn't have anything to do with the arrangement that I made with Hermione," Adeline said them both. "Let her know that I'll meet with her, when she's got her head together."

"It's a shame," the drone commented. "We might have a good idea where your daughter might be, and you aren't willing to do us one little favor. The HIVE can do many things to help you, Ms. Kane, and we can extend our relationship together. We can return your happy family together. You already lost a son, shortly after your husband vanished, and your husband is MIA, presumed dead, do you really wish to lose the last family you have?"

"What are you trying to say?" Adeline asked. "Do you know where Rose is?"

"You scratch our back, my dear Adeline, and we scratch yours," Queen Bee said. She made her way behind her. "And I'm sure you can agree that I would be a very good backscratcher….if you play well with me."

Adeline remembered the information regarding Queen Bee. She had super powered pheromones that would allow her to seduce most men and many women. Given the experimentation she did when she was in college, that put Adeline on her guard.

"How do I know that you're not lying?" Adeline asked.

"We could be deceiving you, but we could be genuine," Queen Bee said. "Risk leads to reward, my dear."

"Your daughter, she would have been sixteen years old by now, wouldn't she?" the drone asked. "She would have missed out on so much, being separated from her mother at such a young age."

"I had no choice, with the mission that I was on," Adeline said.

"And you thought that you could reclaim her," the drone commented. "But you couldn't….and you enlisted the help of others after searching for five long years for her. Poor Rose, she could very well be at the mercy of those who have no mercy."

A strange chill went down Adeline's spine. A grim theory filled her suddenly.

"I swear, if you bastards had anything to do with my daughter's…" Adeline said.

"Now, these accusations are quite unfounded," the drone said.

"You did give HIVE the scarab as an act of good faith, an act of trust," Queen Bee responded.

"Only because I thought that Waller and her people would figure out how to get it working and weaponized it, and cause more headaches than it was worth," Adeline said. "I would have never give Hermione information on where to find it, if I had knew that she was in deep with the HIVE."

"We never figured how to get it working," the drone said. "We had our best scientists on it, but nothing. It doesn't matter though, because it had been stolen by the League of Assassins."

Adeline knew of the League and wondered who was worse to have their hands on this dangerous piece of technology might as well be alien. It was a close race.

"Well, I'm afraid that I can't help you, if it's in the hands of the League," Adeline said. "I did tell Hermione to take special care of it. Surely she relayed my instructions to you?"

"She did, but unfortunately we entrusted the wrong people for its care, a matter that has been taken care of," Queen Bee said. "But, enough about her."

Perhaps it was Adeline's imagination, but she sensed that Queen Bee didn't care for Hermione all that much.

"We need to worry about your future and someone of your skillset would be perfect joining the HIVE," Queen Bee said. "I hate to see if Waller finds out that you betrayed her organization. I've met her, and I know that she doesn't take rejection all that well."

"I suspect that I don't have any choice," Adeline said.

"It's not all a one way relationship," the drone commented. "We will help you locate your daughter, but you need to do us one favor to prove your loyalty."

Adeline knew this was coming.

An envelope was placed on the table in front of her. She opened it up and frowned when she scanned the contents.

"You want me to kill him?" Adeline asked.

"Yes, do that and we'll talk further about your daughter," the drone said.

Adeline nodded. Queen Bee and the drone got up and left her there.

Something was really wrong, Hermione would have never have requested something like this from her. Adeline figured that getting into the HIVE would allow her to delve deeper with what happened to her.

The carrot of her daughter being alive somewhere was dangled in front of Adeline's face. She didn't know what to believe now.

If only she chose a different life….well if she chose a different life, then she never would have met her estranged husband and their daughter would have never been born.

* * *

The waves crashed across the sea, when a ship known as the AMAZO trucked along to its destination.

The Captain of the Ship frowned. They had picked up numerous prisoners in an attempt to satisfy Ivo's mad quest. The crew of the ship wasn't the most upstanding citizens in the world, but they were loyal.

The Captain wished they were a bit more loyal to him, because he kept this ship running and on course, where Ivo was down in the lower levels, playing mad scientist.

A loud rattle was heard and the ship groaned to a stop. The Captain nearly staggered back and the rest of the crew also had been staggered.

"What the hell is going on here?" one of them grumbled. "Are we being boarded by pirates?"

"Pirates?" one of the rougher crew members grumbled. "We'll see about that."

He pulled out a rusty looking knife.

Several figures boarded the ship at once. A rusty knife was no match for the well-made blade wielded by the leader of the group. Several razor sharp arrows shot through the chest of the crew. They were toughs, but no match for too skill.

"What kind of pirates are you?" the Captain asked.

"He thinks we're pirates," a woman's voice commented dryly. She looked to be the second in command.

"We're not pirates, we're assassins," the leader said. He appeared to be the only man who was a part of this crew. He grabbed the man by the throat. "Are you Ivo?"

"No, I'm the Captain of this ship," he grumbled.

He could feel a chill go through his body, and it wasn't because of the cold weather on the sea on this night.

"Where is Ivo?" he demanded.

"He's….below….he asked not to be disturbed….when the doors are locked, and it's better off that you don't go down there," the Captain warned him.

"Thank you," the leader said. He stabbed the Captain in the chest and allowed him to free fall over the edge of the ship. He turned to his second in command. "He has prisoners on this ship, but we'll sort them out later. They're not going anywhere."

The leader made his way down. Two rather prominent looking women stood on either side. The door was locked, so he made his way in.

The door blew open and there was a man with greying hair standing there. He had surgical tools in his hand and he looked up, completely in shock. He had blood all over him and there was a man strapped to the table, that looked to be in really bad shape.

"Pirates…there's nothing on this ship of value to you," Ivo said. He reached into his desk drawer and tried to pull out a gun he kept in it.

"Jammed, I'm afraid," the leader said. He lifted Ivo up and cleared the table. He turned to two of his two assassins. "See if you can do anything for him, if at all possible."

"He's a loss," Ivo managed.

"You might be as well," the leader said. He threw Ivo onto the table and strapped him in. "You're Professor Anthony Ivo….you have been corresponding with a Miss Hermione Granger regarding Mirakuru, the super soldier formula made by the Japanese, and lost after World War II."

Ivo didn't seem to want to give up information easily. The lead assassin grabbed a hammer off of the table and smashed two of his fingers with it.

"The rest of them get smashed if you don't cooperate with me," he informed them. "You have any number of implements here that I can also use to coerce information, if you choose to withhold it from me."

"We exchanged letters, no more than a handful of times," Ivo managed. "And she offered funding, but I had already had a sufficient amount of funding and didn't need her help or the help of the people that she worked for."

"Because, you assumed that she would take the formula for herself, and leave you out in the cold," the leader of the assassins said.

"I didn't need….I'm close, closer than ever….I swear, I want to help the world, and she and all she stands for, wants to destroy it," Ivo said.

"It always starts innocently enough, but you get twisted along the road," he commented in response. "The smartest thing that you've done is not get in bed with the HIVE. I'm certain that they're not going to take too kindly to that."

"Let me go, and we can make a deal," Ivo said. "I know of technology beyond your wildest dreams."

"And here he told us that he has nothing to offer us," the second in command commented.

"Oh, he has everything to offer us," the leader of the assassins said. "The ship is a valuable resource; it would be a waste to sink of it. The man who runs it, I have no use for it."

"So, you're going to kill me for my ship," Ivo said. "You don't understand….innocent lives are stake."

"Are they?" the leader asked. "Are you doing this for the greater good?"

Ivo didn't answer to that.

"What do you want from me?" Ivo asked. "Is it the formula?"

"It's not the Mirakuru," he said.

"Then why are you asking me about it?" Ivo asked. He was perplexed.

"I'm exactly where I need to be," he replied.

For the past six months, he had been having a recurring dream, that Harry had been fitting the bits and the pieces together. He now knew where he needed to be, once he had discovered the coordinates, which had pointed him to where this ship was situated.

Everything falls into place.

"You just can't take my ship and kill me, I've gotten too close to finding it," Ivo begged him. "Just who do you think you are?"

He unmasked himself to reveal a young man with dark hair and chillingly vibrant green eyes. Ivo had looked into the eyes of many hardened kills and these were eyes that personified incoming death more than any other he had seen in his life.

"My name is Harry Potter," he replied.

Ivo blacked out instantly.

"He fainted," Nyssa murmured. "I can't believe it."

"He thinks he can play dead," Harry said. A part of him sounded amused.

"Do you want me to wake him?" Nyssa asked. She picked up a rather sharp needle. "Or do you want me to put him to sleep for good?"

"Let him play for the moment," Harry said.

"We have the ship secured," Cass said. "These were the coordinates, after all. But I don't know what it means."

"I do," Harry said. "What I've been seeing since I came out of that Lazarus Pit is making a lot more sense."

It took some time for Harry to fit the fractured pieces together.

"The mysterious ship that went down in your dreams?" Nyssa asked. "This is it?"

"No, this isn't it," Harry said. That caused her to blink. "But, this ship is where we need to be. For many reasons, one of them is that the HIVE is plotting their own attack to nab Ivo, and get the information out of him."

That was one tangible piece of information that Harry pulled out of her mind before she expired. To their credit, Nyssa and Cass didn't seem surprised, or they were acting like they weren't.

"Welcome back, Doctor Ivo," Harry said. "This is not a nightmare that you will wake up from, this is very real. Now….we have plenty of time to have a nice, lovely, chat, and I hope you have some answers."

"You're going to kill me," Ivo said.

"As a Doctor, you should know better than else that it's amazing what you can survive," Harry informed him. "But, don't worry, I'll give you more mercy that the poor souls you experimented on."

Ivo knew that he had little choice. The minimal hope that he had to survive hinged on his cooperation. This Potter looked like a snake hunting a small, terrified rodent.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen: The Puzzle Pieces.**

* * *

Harry thought that the information Ivo gave him was woefully incomplete. He thought that he would be able to gather more information from him, but he pretty much told Harry everything that he needed to know or at least that Ivo knew.

The interesting thing was Ivo hadn't been able to put the pieces together from him.

"Do you think that he knows more or that he's pretty much done?" Nyssa asked him.

"His mind as well organized….I'll give him that," Harry said. "He can cause people to suffer, but he can't stand up under torment for long."

"And you haven't killed him, yet, have you?" Nyssa asked. "That seems to think that you still think that he has some usefulness in him."

"His death is coming," Harry agreed. "The HIVE is looking for him, and if he's dead, then they have no reason to come out in the open."

"They might not send anyone of value," Cass said. She was watching Harry with interest. They still hadn't figured out what to do with the prisoners on the ship.

The most obvious situation was leave them be until Harry's control of the ship was absolute. Then he could sort them out later. Harry had an inkling that a few of the people on this ship were not the most upstanding of citizens to begin with, but others, they were victims of Ivo and his cruelty, his obsession.

"Perhaps, but we're just going to have to wait," Harry said. "One way or another, tomorrow evening, we'll know exactly why we're here."

"You don't have a clear idea?" Cass asked. She turned to Harry and he turned around.

He could see a pained Ivo looking at him. Ivo tried to pull himself up, but the shoulder straps of the table cut into him. He looked at him with blurry eyes. He had been injected with a drug that caused his legs to grow numb for about fifteen minutes. Then when the numbness wore off, any pain that he experienced during that time hit him all at once.

"Kill me," Ivo said. "My work….it's all came down to this…at least my pain will be over."

"You haven't told me everything yet," Harry said. He went into the fire and pulled out a hot iron. "You're trying to block my probe into your mind, aren't you? Your mind is well trained to not break under interrogation. A good skill for someone who has everything to hide."

"I have told you everything, now please," Ivo said. The iron wavered right next to his eye. "I don't know what else I need to tell you."

"Tell me what's in the box beneath this room," Harry said.

"I don't know….I found it on an island close to here….I thought it had something to do with the formula, but I couldn't get it working, whatever is in it," Ivo breathed. Blood poured from his mouth and the hot iron press close to his knee.

"Five, four, three, two, one," Harry muttered.

Ivo screamed right at the count of one.

"Well, you're telling me the truth, shows that you're learning," Harry said. He walked over and made his way down.

He removed the hatch underneath the Ivo's desk chair. He pulled back the door and lifted a black box out. The box glinted in the light.

"Looks like something that the HIVE would have loved to get their hands on," Harry muttered. He could sense that there was something about this box that seemed alive and sentient.

Was it a magical artifact or something else entirely? It had three holes inside it, made in the shape of an upside down triangle. Harry figured that this component might plug into a larger component, but he didn't know what that would be.

"You did stumble upon something that would change the world, Doctor Ivo," Harry informed him. He stepped closer towards Ivo. "It's a real shame that you won't get to see the fruits of your labor, will it?"

Ivo blacked out once again. Harry pulled away and looked at Cassandra.

"Your methods are effective," she informed him. "I thought at first that you wouldn't fit in the League….no offense."

"The Harry Potter that died in the veil would have been a poor fit for the League," Harry said to her.

"Would he be?" Cass asked him. "The potential had to be there."

"Maybe," Harry agreed. "But, does it really matter what might have been?"

"No, it doesn't matter," Nyssa agreed. She was looking at the box in front of them. "It looks to be a piece of a larger component."

"You thought as much as well?" Harry asked. Nyssa nodded in response. "I have no idea how to get it working, and he doesn't either. Otherwise, he wouldn't have shoved it underneath a chair and forgotten about it."

Harry took the device and placed it into his bag. It would be unwise to leave it leaving around, even though the only people who were able to walk around on this ship was completely and one hundred percent loyal to him.

"So, I think it's time to take a look at the prisoners on this ship," Harry said. He took Nyssa's hand with one of his and Cassandra's hand with his other hands. "You now have true invisibility."

Cassandra and Nyssa tried not to look too impressed.

"As long as you don't get too lazy with the stealth and resort to this power too much," Nyssa said.

"Well, being invisible seldom keeps you from making sound," Harry said. "So, the stealth is extremely important still."

"He has a point," Cassandra said.

Harry made sure that Ivo was secure. He was paralyzed, strapped to the table, and he would not move.

The trio made their way outside into the ship. The storm continued to rage outside and it was rather ominous.

Harry saw it flash in his mind. They were really close where he needed to be. The time ticked down slowly. He needed to have a full inventory of the prisoners on the ship, and know how many he needed to get off.

Then he needed to chart a course to the formula, and beat HIVE to it. Pretty soon, they were going to have a reckoning.

* * *

Kingsley Shacklebolt returned from yet another meeting with the International Confederation of Wizards and it was a rather uncomfortable one. Glory days were not back for the Wizarding World, but things were stable, calm.

Other than the fact that his senior undersecretary had put in her resignation, sometime after Harry did. Kingsley was disappointed that Hermione didn't say it to his face, but she informed Kingsley that her job had worn her down too hard and she needed some time to herself.

Kingsley did know that. And he wished he could have followed both Harry and Hermione out of the door, but the problem was that he didn't have that luxury.

The wizards of European were really pressing on him extremely hard to get some answers and he wished that he had the answers that they needed, but the problem was that he didn't. Thankfully, they had their own problems. There were a couple of dark wizard problems that turned up. Nothing on the level of Voldemort, but he doubted that as long as any of them would live, they would see anything on that level.

His two bodyguards stood on either side of him. They weren't exactly too pleasant, but they most certainly got their job done. All Kingsley had to do stick close to them.

"The sooner we get back to the Ministry, the better," Kingsley said.

At least the goblins were talking to them, even though the value of the galleon wasn't as high as it was for your average witch and wizard on the street. Inflation was the name of that game.

Kingsley found himself right out in the open and one of his bodyguards fell back when something impaled into his chest. Blood poured out of his mouth when he landed on the ground with a horrific thump.

The other bodyguard turned around and motioned for Kingsley to get behind him. He got a bolt in the shoulder and it caused him to drop out of the ground.

Kingsley whipped out his wand and fired a barrage of spells. His targeting was a little off, and he didn't even know what he was firing at. His two bodyguards laid at his feet.

"Come out!" Kingsley yelled.

He felt a stabbing pain in his arm and there was a dagger in his wand arm. Kingsley, recalling his first days of Auror training, did not relinquish his wand, even though it hurt like hell to keep a grip on it.

Another blow nailed him in the back of his neck and caused it to snap. That was the last thing that Kingsley felt when he dropped to the ground.

A hand picked up his wand and left.

The officials from the International Confederation of Wizards main headquarters exited at the sounds of the disturbance, but they were already too late. The Minister of Magic laid on the ground, murdered, alongside two of his bodyguards.

* * *

Many of the prisoners on the ship were not of the best shape. Harry looked past them.

"So, what's the plan with them?" Cass asked.

"Get them to the mainland, if they were going to live, they'll survive, if there time is going to come, there time is going to come," Harry said. He noticed that Ivo preferred men to conduct his experiments with.

There were a couple of theories as to why Harry thought that. Maybe Ivo couldn't stomach using women for his experimentations, and thus proved that there was still some humanity. Most of the people in the ship were men that were at least in their late twenties or early thirties, if not many times older than that.

Or maybe he thought that men could stand a lot more torture. Harry knew several women that would disagree with that, and two of them stood right next to him.

"Not long for this world, I'm afraid," Harry muttered. He looked over the prisoners.

He had a strong sense with some of these people that they would die the moment that they were moved off of the ship.

"One more level other than this, according to Ivo's information," Harry said. Ivo said that there weren't many prisoners kept down there, but there were a couple of cases of interest that were kept out there.

He wanted to know what Ivo thought of an interesting case.

The first cell saw an old man who was busy flipping over a rock and causing it to change into a series of small objects, like a pin, a penny, and a match. It was really low level transfiguration, but Harry figured that he technically wasn't a wizard. He was able to transmute materials on a certain level.

"Keep changing, stop the pain, keep changing, stop the pain," he said. His face flickered with pain the moment that he stopped.

Despite the fact sweat rolled down his face and he looked fatigued, the old man kept transfiguring the rock.

Harry didn't see that many other people of note. There was a Chinese man sitting in the cell and he was playing chess with what appeared to his exact duplicate. Only Harry saw that the duplicate was really a duplicate of himself.

He spent a couple of minutes studying that particular power. Duplication was a tricky charm to pull off, as the more ways a person split their focus, the more it would cause them to black out. And there was always a chance that you could put way too much focus within a duplicate and cause it to start living a life of its own.

Harry noticed that there was one final door and it was iron.

"I knew that you would come," a voice whispered on the other end of the iron door. "I saw that you would come….that caused me not to completely break under Ivo."

"So much for Ivo not using women for his experiments," Nyssa murmured.

"The three of you are invisible, but I know that you are there, because I've seen this conversation play out a hundred times," the girl commented in a pained voice. "You have come to liberate me."

"Who are you?" Harry asked.

"My name is Rose….Rose Wilson," she said. She coughed several times.

Harry opened the door and he could see a girl with platinum blonde hair that was unruly. Her face looked flushed and there were a few cuts on her hands. She wore extremely ragged clothes that clung to her body.

She would look fairly attractive, if she wasn't so malnourished and beaten up.

"How did you get here, Rose?" Harry asked.

"It was that….that girl," Rose managed. She held her arm out. "She said that she needed to give me to Ivo as leverage…..but he ended up betraying her and the HIVE. She told Ivo to do what he needed to, to conduct his experiments. She pretended to help my mother try and find me, but she knew where I was the entire time."

Harry recalled Rose from Hermione's memories. He didn't put it together, because it didn't directly concern his plans right now.

"The HIVE aren't going to be happy….." Rose said. Suddenly she staggered over and started to cough really madly.

Nyssa and Cassandra caught her and Rose looked to be rather worse for wear on this ship.

"This ship…isn't the most pleasant of places….many of the people down here are already sick….and it's spreading," Rose managed in a deep and ragged breath.

Harry placed his hand on her forehead. Her forehead burned to the touch underneath her hand.

"What did he do to you?" Harry asked.

"Nothing, one of the patients got sick when he gave him some kind of serum to test how it would react to his powers," Rose said.

"So, it mutated?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Rose agreed. "There are very few that have survived down in this level. Most of us are kept down here for a good reason. I don't have much time left."

Harry scanned her body. She radiated sickness alright.

"She doesn't have much time, does she?" Cass asked.

"I don't have that feeling with her," Harry said. "At least, the feeling that I have with some people down here."

Harry found the source of the virus. The poor soul who had been infected looked hideous. He was the man who had kept transfiguring items.

"Keep changing, stop the pain, keep changing, stop the pain, "he murmured.

"I'm going to put you out of your misery," Harry said to him.

"Stop the pain," he responded.

He kept repeating his mantra, but stopped his transfiguration long enough to look up at Harry. He blinked. Harry waved his hand and a purple flame erupted from his hand.

The flame shot from Harry's hand through the cell. It burned the carrier of the plague and caused the virus to be completely burned out of her body.

"That stops it from getting worse, but doesn't reverse the damage," Rose said. She shielded her mouth and she coughed.

Harry waved his hand and performed a few healing spells on her.

"Better?" Harry asked.

"A little," she admitted.

She was too weak to walk. Her muscles felt strained and she couldn't keep food down even though she wanted to.

"She's not contagious, no one down here is contagious," Harry informed his group.

"Kill me," she begged him.

"It's not your time," Harry said.

"Kill me," she repeated to herself. She nearly collapsed and Cass was in to catch her and hold her up.

"She doesn't look good," Nyssa said.

Harry would have to agree that she didn't look good. Her life was on the pedestal right now, the next couple of days would determine her fate.

"Nothing is completely etched in stone," Harry said. "I only know when a person has reached the point of no return. If they're on the precipice between life and death, they still have time. Although, I agree, that she will be taken without a cure for her affliction."

"What kind of cure?" Nyssa asked.

Harry had an idea, and he was reluctant to use it. It could heal her an inch from death.

"What about the Phoenix tears?" Nyssa suggested.

"I wish it would be that simple," Harry said.

"So what do you want me to do?" Cass asked.

Harry took a moment to look at the girl. Cass was holding Rose, who had lapsed in a slightly catatonic state. Suddenly, she jerked out of it.

"No, no….DON'T DO IT, DAD!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

She went catatonic and silent after that outburst.

"Bring her to Ivo's quarters," Harry said.

Cass scooped up Rose in her arms and brought her up past the prisoners. They would be gone by the time they woke up in the morning. Harry needed to ship to be cleared by tomorrow night.

He passed Ivo.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't do anything to save her," Ivo muttered.

"It was your experiments that caused her to get sick," Harry said.

"I didn't intend to do it," Ivo said. "I was just to hold her, and I thought that she would be my insurance if HYDRA ever found me. I never intended her to get bad like this. I was just going to leave her be in the cell."

Rose was placed on the bed.

"We both know how to fix it," Ivo managed. He coughed.

"I know how to fix it," Harry agreed. "If she dies, you go, slowly, and painfully."

"What more can you do to me?" Ivo asked.

Harry slammed his hands on either side of the pedestal and stared in his eyes. His piercing gaze met Ivo's eyes. It was the gaze of death and Ivo blinked when he stared it down. He had a strange suspicion that he could be turned to stone if Harry wished for it.

"Hopefully I find the formula before you have to find out," Harry said.

Nyssa waited for him. She figured that she should offer her opinion to him.

"Are you sure it's wise to give her Mirakuru?" Nyssa asked.

"No," Harry said.

"Why wouldn't you cry for her?" Cass asked.

"It can find it really easy to cry for her," Harry said.

"There's a reason though, why you can't," Cass said.

"The Phoenix Tears can heal mages, but they are highly toxic against mundanes," Harry said.

Harry learned all about that. It was unfortunate, but all powers had their drawbacks in some ways. It was all about creatively maneuvering around the drawbacks.

"That's inconvenient," Nyssa said. She clutched her blade and looked at Ivo. "So, we'll get them off the ship? Where they go from there….."

"Is where they go," Harry said. "I'm giving them a chance to save themselves."

Those who were strong would likely survive. Those who died were an inch away from death anyway.

He moved his way over to Rose and touched her forehead. It felt like it was on fire and she ran an immense fever.

"Go to her," Rose murmured.

She blacked out and didn't speak for the rest of the evening.

* * *

A huge storm echoed outside and the ship known as the Queen's Gambit cracked open. There was a loud smash when it broken and there was a loud scream. The ship tipped over the water and there was chaos.

People on the ship scrambled in the life boat.

A blonde haired woman poked her head above the water. She struggled to swim against the immense currents. There was a section of the bed that she went down with that was floating. It still floated on the bed.

She tried to struggle towards it. Her transparent robe and lingerie, that grew even more transparent thanks to the fact that she was soaking wet because of going underneath water was offset by the pained look on her face.

"HELP!" she yelled. It hurt to yell, like she had a broken rib, or some other injury.

The loud and roaring storm echoed against the rocks.

"OLLIE, ARE YOU OUT THERE?" she asked. She was nearly brought underneath the water.

Of course she didn't get an answer. She was on the bed, about to have her wicked fun with her sister's boyfriend.

That sounded really bad. Her sister's boyfriend, there are some lines that shouldn't really cross. She felt like a bitch when she thought of the reasons why, but it wasn't like she had much time for self-reflection.

Granted, she didn't get anywhere close to home plate with Ollie before she went down with the ship, bed and all.

Sara Lance couldn't help, but think, in her weary state, that might have been divine invention at its finest to stop her from doing something that she might end up regretting.

And she was never going to see anyone again. Sara coughed when the current was about to drag her over, no matter how much she held on.

The Queen's Gambit was in pieces, she saw a few of them floating. The wreckage was around her.

There had to be a life boat, maybe Oliver, his father, or any of the crew got to it. It didn't look like she would get to it any time soon.

"Damn it!" Sara yelled.

She could hear something across the water. Was it some other ship?

"I'm over here!" She yelled.

Sara looked up and she wondered if she was hallucinating. A black robed figure rode toward her on the back of a black horse. The horse had midnight black skin and it appeared to have feathers.

Wings even, and Sara could see the horse wasn't riding on water. That would be absurd.

The horse was flying. It was much better. Sara wondered if she suffered a concussion when she went down with the ship.

The hand grabbed her and lifted her out of the water with a surprising amount of strength.

"Hang on," the robed figure told her.

She hung onto his waist, out of instinct, or perhaps out of desire to survive. The bed frame she held onto sunk underneath the water completely the moment she was on the back of the horse.

The horse glided over the water and made it over to the side of the ship.

Sara got off of the horse and collapsed to her hands knees on the deck of the ship, before passing out.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen: Recruit.**

* * *

Sara Lance stirred awake. The last thing Sara remembered, she had gone down with the Queen's Gambit ship. More memories flooded back to her suddenly. The mysterious hooded stranger and his black horse that flew saved her and brought her onto this ship.

This might be where she was dizzy and passed out. To be fair, Sara was pretty sure she hit her head on the way down.

The young woman's eyes flickered open. She laid on a bed, face down. The light in the room was rather dim. It must have been in the lower levels, maybe in a basement of some sort.

Sara found herself dressed in a really long shirt that stretched down to her knees. Nothing else was on underneath.

The blonde woman groped around for the light, shaking her head. Hopefully, she could get some answers.

The fact she wasn't tied to the bed and could move was rather promising. Normally, Sara might be down for that, but only if it was consensual.

The lights flickered on and Sara turned around. A striking attractive dark haired woman, dressed in some kind of elegant attire sat on a chair reading a book.

"So, you're awake," the woman said. "Good, I'm sure that you have questions."

Sara turned towards the woman and shook her head. Boy, did she ever have questions. The response and the answers she would get would be another matter entirely.

"Well, of course, I have questions," Sara said. "Just who are you for starters?"

"My name is Nyssa, I'm the daughter of current Ra's Al Ghul, and the betrothed to the future Ra's Al Ghul," Nyssa commented.

That introduction prompted Sara to raise her eyebrow. Sure enough, she did have more questions after all.

"Where am I?" Sara asked. "No, wait a minute, how did I….no wait a minute, how long has it been since I….since I got here."

Nyssa paused for a moment. The woman's burrow contorted along with her face into consideration. The woman leaned toward to look at Sara.

"It has been exactly ten days since you passed out," Nyssa said. "We thought for a moment that you suffered injuries in the crash that could be fatal, but the heir of the demon was insistent that you would be fine, and you were."

"Ten days," Sara whispered.

Sara had no idea what to say over then that. The fact she was out in the middle of nowhere was disturbing enough without adding into the fact that she had no idea how long had passed since she had been out here.

Nyssa smiled at the woman and looked towards her with encouragement.

"Yes, you suffered a slight concussion and also nearly drowned," Nyssa said. "One of the creatures in the water bit you and you suffered an infection that caused my betrothed to have to put you underneath to stabilize it. Not to mention the dehydration."

Sara was too busy fearing for her life at the time. Had she been that bad off? Nearly died because of the weakness she experienced.

Had her injuries from the wreck been that bad? Sara felt fine. Sure, a little tired, a little sore, and a little drowsy, but otherwise fine. Sara sat up on the bed.

Nyssa slid over a tray towards Sara and offered the girl something to eat. The girl reluctantly reached forward to get the food and decided to dig in.

By the second bite, Sara ravenously attacked the food. Nyssa watched the girl eat in amusement and Sara stopped.

"Sorry about that, it's just that I'm really hungry," Sara said. "I didn't mean to eat all of your dinner."

Nyssa shook her head and motioned for Sara to continue.

"Given the circumstances, you would be famished," Nyssa said. She leaned forward and casually wiped the sauce off of Sara's chin.

Sara shuddered for a moment when she watched Nyssa casually clean the sauce. The dark haired woman did have some talent.

"So, this was meant for you anyway. It would be a shame to allow it to go to waste, as I had already eaten several hours ago."

Sara paused and finished the meal out in front of her and had something to drink. The taste was rather appealing to her.

"You did a good job on this," Sara said. "Sorry, but it's….."

"I wish I could take the credit for it," Nyssa said. "But, it's the work of my betrothed. While the methods of where he learned that particular skill are unsettling, I cannot argue with results. He is quite skilled in a multitude of ways."

"Oh?" Sara asked. "Sounds like a keeper, doesn't he?"

"He is indeed," Nyssa said. Harry eased her over to see things his way and she couldn't be happier. "And there's plenty of him to go around, I can assure you that much."

A knock on the door could be heard. Nyssa gracefully rose to her feet and edged towards the door, opening it up.

"Yes, she's awake, just a few moments ago."

Sara looked up at a man with dark locks and green eyes. He dressed in a tight leather fitted bodysuit that caused Sara's eyes to linger on him for a second.

"So, are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm much better, thank you," Sara said.

"That's good," he said. "I knew you were strong enough to pull out. What happened to you would have caused many in your position to perish. I do need to talk to you, if you're ready to join me.

After a moment's consideration, Sara nodded in response. She got to her feet and figured that if someone could give her the answers she sought, it would be him.

"My name is Harry, Harry Potter," Harry informed her.

"Sara, Sara Lance, it's….well I'm not really sure what to say," Sara said.

"You'll have plenty of time to get your thoughts in order," Harry informed her. "We should be close to my office soon."

Harry led Sara down the hallway. The two of them made their way their way up a stairway and to a side entrance. The two of them were lead inside a rather spacious office. There were papers on the desk and Harry cleared them off.

"Please sit down," Harry said.

Sara took the seat that was offered. Harry sat down to face her.

"Well, I'm sure that you have some questions," Harry said.

Many questions popped into Sara's mind. It seemed a bit peculiar that Harry found her and only her. The rest of the crew, Oliver, his father, what happened to them?

"How much time do you have?" Sara asked.

Harry smiled, "Plenty."

"What happened to the rest of the crew?" Sara asked. "There were a lot of people on the Gambit, Oliver Queen for starters, and his father and….well other people."

"Yes?" Harry asked.

"What happened to them?" Sara asked.

Harry thought it was a fair question. In the week, Sara had been out, Harry had been preparing to answer these questions.

"Most of them died," Harry responded. "The moment the ship went down, that was it for them. A couple might have survived, but they were out of range."

"But, you could find me," Sara said.

"Yes, you did call for help, and I decided to offer it," Harry said. "I figured that you really needed it."

Sara nodded. That did really make a lot of sense to be honest. The woman's lips curled into a frown.

"So where am I?" Sara asked.

"You're on a former prison ship called the AMAZO," Harry said. "I decided to take over the ship, and use it as a front for a war that I'm fighting."

"What kind of war?" Sara asked him.

"I'm part of a secret and exclusive group," Harry informed Sara. "The League of Assassins?"

"Isn't that bad?" Sara asked. "I mean, does that mean you kill people?"

"The term assassin has been skewed over the years," Harry said. "It takes a lot of skill to be an assassin. There is a difference between an assassin, and a cowardly thug who murders. Do not take this the wrong way, but very few have what it takes and have the discipline. Anyone can kill someone."

Sara wondered if it was truly that easy.

"There are some really dangerous people out there, Sara," Harry informed her. "I won't lie to you. The term assassin really got a bad reputation that's warranted. At first, assassins killed those who needed to be exterminated. The line got blurred and then got crossed."

"How many people have you killed?" Sara asked.

The question might have been personal.

"Enough," Harry said. "The people who I killed would have killed me and those that I care about first. Some people might consider what I do to be criminal, and that's a fair point. They are welcomed to try and stop me and maybe if they can put me down, they can prove me wrong."

Sara could see the confidence in his eyes. He held him back from saying something else.

The word "if" rang in Sara's head. If someone could bring Harry down, they might prove him wrong. Sara wondered if it was possible.

"But, it's not about me, it's about you," Harry said. "I want you to join me."

"I don't know….I'm not a fighter, and most certainly not an assassin," Sara responded.

"I'm all about shattering expectations, and you're certainly strong enough to be a noble warrior," Harry informed her. "Skills can be taught and fine-tuned. All it takes is a little bit of effort. Join me, and you'll be taught things that you can only dream about."

Harry's generous offer caused Sara to raise an eyebrow.

"The choice is yours," Harry said.

"Do, I honestly have a choice?" Sara asked.

"You always have choices," Harry said. "But, are you going to make a choice that is right for you? You could walk out of here to today and I won't hold any ill-will to you. It would be a disappointment."

Sara blinked.

"But, you'll always wonder, what could have been. You'll always wonder what could have been. You'll always regret not living up to your full potential. And I can see it, the sky is the limit for you."

The added portion of the statement also caused Sara to pause and lean towards Harry.

"You really think that I'm up for it?" Sara asked.

"It's what you think that matters in the end," Harry said. "Are you good enough, Sara? Are you strong enough? Or will you run away from your demons, instead of making them your ally. If you join me, I can make you stronger than you ever could be."

The proposition Harry gave Sara enticed her. A part of her wanted to do something more with her life, a really large part of Sara wanted to do something more with her life.

Sara pondered on it for a moment. She opened her mouth to answer, but Harry raised his hand towards her.

"I don't want your answer now," Harry said. "I want you to think about everything I said. But, if my guess is right, you already wanted to prove something before. You just went about it the wrong way. I can only offer my hand and steer you towards the right path. This decision will impact the rest of your life."

A decision which could greatly impact the rest of her life, Sara wondered if Harry knew how close to home he hit with that one. It was really extremely difficult to tell how much Harry knew or rather guessed about her circumstances and why she got here.

"Joining Oliver on that ship, that is living dangerously, Sara," Harry said. "I wonder what you really wanted."

Okay, that was eerie. Sara could not even begin to describe the different ways how eerie this entire situation was.

Harry clapped his hands and Nyssa returned with a pair of bodyguards. Sara joined them at the door, but stopped.

"So how did you know about the accident?" Sara asked.

"I beg your pardon?" Harry asked.

"That was you on the horse," Sara replied.

Harry smiled. Smart girl, smarter than many who assumed they were smart because they read a lot of books.

"That much of a dead giveaway," Harry replied.

"Pretty much," Sara said. "How did you know about it?"

It was a fair enough question. Harry decided to give her an answer.

"I have eyes and ears everywhere," Harry informed her. "But, enough about that, you have some time to think over what I told you."

Sara wondered what would happen next in her life. The offer Harry gave her was enticing enough to work.

"I swear, I really paid for this one, being in that accident," Sara said. "I never believed in karma until now."

"Well, I don't know anything about karma," Harry said. "But, I do know that ship going down was no accident."

That statement caused Sara to stop cold. The young woman turned her attention back towards Harry. There was obviously no way she was leaving.

Harry could tell that would get her interest. This information fell under information that the woman had to know, but already, Nyssa steered Sara out of the door.

That piece of information could cook and fester in her brain.

Nyssa led Sara off into the ship. Sara noticed the unconventional path they were taking and wondered why they were going in this direction.

Sure, this was once a prison ship that Harry took over, according him. But, why were they going this way.

Several seconds it took before Sara realized that Nyssa was looking her over. Sara could see the eyes of the beautiful woman rake against her body. Other than the really long shirt she wore, Sara wasn't wearing anything.

"Do not hesitate to ask me if you need anything," Nyssa said. "Anything at all, and Harry, or myself or one of my servants will provide it."

That sounded like an enticing offer. Sara wondered how far that offer extended.

Sara was lead over to her quarters. If you asked her a month ago what turn the blonde thought her life would be in, this would be the furthest thing from her mind for sure.

Nyssa smiled at the girl and watched closely when Sara bent down to look outside. The storm which brewed subsided a lot, but they were a long way from where they were.

"Rest well, dinner will be in about three hours, feel free to join us, and I hope to get to get to know you better. Especially should you decide to join the League."

Sara already made up her mind about what she was going to do. The woman stretched out on the bed.

"Oh, and we'll do something about those clothes soon, if you're uncomfortable."

"No, I don't really mind, right now," Sara said.

There were more clothes in her bag, but Sara was sure they sunk down to the bottom of the ocean by now and the sharks were currently modeling her lingerie or something.

* * *

The scientist looked over some tissue samples. The grotesque changes in them caused the man's stomach to turn. The scientist clenched the table and looked towards them one more time.

"HIVE misses one vital element."

The scientist turned his head around and nodded. The vital element missing looked to be the formula Ivo searched for.

"Ivo took HIVE's work and appropriated it as his own," the drone continued. "This was supposed to be a mutual exchange of services. Ivo broke the agreement."

Anthony Ivo betrayed HIVE at a crucial moment. The organization required a one hundred percent loyalty rate.

"Is the virus ready?" the drone asked the scientist.

"This is delicate work, it will take time to prepare," the scientist said.

"The situation is what's delicate, Doctor," the drone replied. The drone stepped forward and placed a hand on the shoulder of the scientist. "These people proved to serve Mr. Darhk's agenda for a short amount of time. But they've become a liability. The virus when spread will wipe them all out in one fell swoop."

"If this virus is made wrong, it will cause them to horrifically mutate into ravenous beasts who will continue to rampage," the scientist commented.

The drone filed the scientist's words away for later use. Such a virus could prove to be extremely useful as a biological weapon, if HIVE utilized it right.

"That's the best case scenario," the scientist added.

"And what's the worst case scenario?" the drone asked.

"It will wipe out all of humanity," the scientist commented.

"Then, you better not fail," the drone commented. "Mr. Darhk will wish to have full progress reports on what you've accomplished."

"Making such a virus on such a complex group of people takes plenty of time," the scientist said.

The scientist wondered why HIVE wished to exterminate these people. Wouldn't they be far useful to keep alive? The scientist felt finding a way to subdue these people and study them, utilize their unique genetics to learn the limits of what humanity could accomplish served them better.

"I think that you're thinking too small with this," the scientist commented. "Their genetics are amazing. Each complex strand I've broken down with this small DNA sample you've given me, it could hold the key to a better human life."

"Your objection is noted," the drone said. "I'll leave you to your work, doctor."

The drone departed and left any further protests the doctor made to fall upon deaf ears. The drone continued to walk until he reached a wall. One gnarled right hand lifted up and pointed towards the wall.

The wall rattled and glowed. The drone stood back and drew a breath deep inside his body. The wall slowly parted and opened to allow the drone to continue his progress deep inside the hive.

This particular headquarters looked like a high tech honeycomb. The technology inside proved to be out of this world. The hive architecture sparked spirited debate. For an organization who began with such humble origins, the technology utilized proved to be simply alien.

The drone kneeled on the ground. An imposing figure stood in the shadows. No one saw the HIVE leader's face in light. Only people speculated what he looked like.

"Hermione Granger has been missing for months."

"Miss Granger is a vital part of our operation, but not irreplaceable," the HIVE leader stated. "But, she served us well in death. The research she helped perform will allow us to move towards the next phase of our operations. If there is one element Miss Granger excelled it, it's uncovering information which had been lost in tomes."

The drone looked up from his position towards the HIVE Leader.

"But, countless with die," the drone remarked.

"Countless more will follow," the HIVE leader confirmed. "Ra's Al Ghul and his League will soon follow. The fool is second best."

The drone nodded. A motion prompted the man to rise to his feet and face the HIVE leader.

"Keep me posted on his progress," the HIVE leader joined him. "My contacts located Ivo's ship. It's time for us to reacquire a resource. Ivo foolishly thought he could outsmart me. I'll have his research, along with the formula."

The HIVE prepared for their next move. Several events beyond their own control compromised the organization. The time passed for HIVE to get back on track and achieve their end goal of suppressing the control that even the League acquired.

* * *

Harry prepared for battle. The heir of the demon expected them to arrive at any moment. The ship looked the same from the outside and the unsuspecting fools would not notice anything wrong until it is much too late.

The mage's anticipation heightened to another degree. The door opened and Nyssa stepped inside.

"And once again, you make an impression," Nyssa said. "I'd like to ask how you do it, but I think that we're beyond explanation at this point."

"Yes, Sara, I know," Harry said. "She practically fell into our lap this time."

"But, you dreamed of Sara's arrival for months," Nyssa said.

Harry refused to deny Nyssa's statement. The mage reached over and grabbed Nyssa's hand.

"Yes, and no," Harry confirmed. "I knew something was going to go on for months. The Queen Gambit being sabotaged was known. A woman in distress was obvious and I knew I needed to be here. Other than that, instincts formed the rest of my plan."

Nyssa thought Harry's instincts demonstrated one of the warrior's greatest virtues. Instincts made Harry one of the strongest warriors in the world.

"And you gave Sara a choice," Nyssa murmured. "The woman is in your debt."

"I know," Harry answered. "And I gave her the opportunity to walk away."

"Why?" Nyssa asked.

"A gesture of good faith," Harry replied. "Sara will stay. I guarantee that."

Harry backed up his words with actions and a guarantee of such a magnitude detailed how bold of a statement Harry intended to give.

"What kind of leader would I be if I forced people to stay here against their will?" Harry asked. "Blackmail and coercion work against enemies, but not people who I wish to be allies."

Nyssa pondered Harry's words. Did his statement make sense? The daughter of the demon concluded such an enlightened philosophy made sense. Nyssa took a next step and realized that Harry intended to make some changes with the League.

"You really want to make the League your own," Nyssa said.

"The plan is to respect traditions and form new ones," Harry said. The emerald-eyed warrior reached over and cupped Nyssa's chin. "People need to be loyal to me, not be loyal to the League."

"One could argue they're one and the same," Nyssa said.

"One could say that," Harry agreed. "But, the most important in this agreement disagrees."

Harry closed the distance between the two of them with a kiss. Nyssa's soft lips melted underneath Harry's.

The sorcerer's hands snaked around Nyssa and cupped her ass from behind. Eager hands ran over Nyssa's tight ass.

Harry released Nyssa's lips only to kiss the side of her neck. The future League leader backed the daughter of demon onto the bed and kissed her even more deeply.

"I know where your loyalty lies," Harry said.

Harry's finger ran down Nyssa's neck and towards her cleavage. The young man pulled back at the last possible second and smiled.

"Let me ensure that I become certain of that fact, master," Nyssa said.

Nyssa lowered down to her knees in a submissive position before Harry. The dark-haired beauty unbuckled Harry's pants and pulled them down.

"Yes, prove your loyalty," Harry said.

Nyssa looked up and realized something.

"Sara will be here in a half of an hour," Nyssa warned him.

"Then, you best step up your game," Harry answered. "Unless you don't mind having an audience."

Nyssa honestly didn't really mind. The warrior felt a challenge come down to make Harry finish before Sara showed up. The daughter of the demon thrived on a challenge and intended on proving the most from her loyalty.

* * *

No sooner did Harry and Nyssa finish, the two heard a knock on the door. The daughter of the demon staggered back after a second to catch her bearings. The ability to walk upright eluded the female warrior because of Harry's efforts.

"Sara, it's unlocked," Harry said.

Sara stepped inside. The girl's look resembled an expression a person normally wore on their face when they tried to be casual. The girl's eyes flittered to the both of them.

"Sit down," Harry said.

The skilled sorcerer motioned for the same bed the two used a moment ago.

"So, I've been doing some thinking," Sara said.

"Yes," Harry said.

"You want me to join this League?" Sara asked.

"I believe you can be a good fit," Nyssa chimed in on Harry's behalf. "We both realize this decision is not one you should take likely."

"They think that I'm dead, don't they?" Sara asked.

Harry held up the portable device he used to keep track of news. Sara took the device and all of the reports discussing the Queen's Gambit going down. The reports mostly focused on Oliver, the young man's status as the heir of a rich family and his notorious party boy attitude mandated no less.

"They think that I died, drowned with the ship," Sara said.

"Yes," Harry informed her.

Sara slumped down and continued to read the report. The straight forward news reports only implied their suspicions of why she went on the ship. Gossip rags on the other hand painted her as the devious younger sister who tried to seduce her sister's boyfriend.

"I wouldn't take what those idiots say," Harry answered.

"I won't," Sara said. "She….Laurel…."

"Who?" Nyssa asked.

"My sister, Dinah Laurel Lance, she's….well she's the good girl, I'm a bit more….liberated than she is," Sara responded. "Everyone calls her Laurel, even though she's named after our mother, so not to get the two mixed up."

Sara reigned herself in.

"The point is, I think that I went on that ship to get one over on her," Sara said. "I wanted to beat her at something."

"So this Queen," Nyssa remarked in a cool manner. "Did you….."

"Sleep with him," Sara said bluntly.

"Yes," Nyssa confirmed curtly.

"Keep in mind that we're not judging you," Harry said. His eyes shifted towards Nyssa. "But because of your inclusion into the League, these are things we need to know."

"There's some kind of morals clause for a League of Assassins?" Sara asked, raising an eyebrow.

Harry laughed and shook his head. The way Sara said it did make such the inclusion of such a clause seem foolish.

"No," Harry answered. "It's just that….."

"I didn't get that far," Sara replied. "He was rather charming, and said that he didn't see much of a future with Laurel….."

"And he thought that you would be suited, and you thought it was love, because you were desperate enough to believe that you could become better than your sister at something."

Sara gaze fixated on a red-haired young woman dressed in the same garb Nyssa and the other woman wore. The girl's mask pulled down.

"Hey, Ginny, everything okay?" Harry asked.

"Fine, Megan's all settled in," Ginny said. "Good thing we made some friends in the States during our little trip around the world."

"Kansas will be the last place on Earth the Ministry will look for a wayward reporter," Harry answered.

"Yes," Ginny agreed.

"Ginny, this is Sara Lance, she's….."

"The girl you rescued, I know," Ginny said. "Hi, Sara, my name's Ginny, I'm Harry's wife."

Sara's brain stalled for a brief second. The confused young lady stared from Ginny to Nyssa.

"Problem?" Nyssa asked.

"Yes," Sara said. "I thought you and Harry….."

"Yes, we are," Nyssa replied.

"But, Ginny said that her and Harry…."

"Yes, they are," Nyssa responded.

Harry figured the vague nature of Nyssa's responses only caused Sara more confusion. He reached and squeezed the hand of the young girl to get her attention.

"They're both my wives, well Nyssa is betrothed technically, but not technically in the eyes of magic," Harry said. "It's complicated…..oh and yes, I'm a wizard by the way. Or to be more technical, I'm a Caliber Seven Archaic Sorcerer….but wizard rolls off the tongue so much easier. "

"A wizard and an assassin," Sara muttered.

"Pirate too, according to some people," Harry said.

"Well, you took this ship, and plunder a fair deal of booty," Ginny said, not holding back on the suggestive wink.

Harry's eyebrow raised and the look fixed to Ginny's face. The look told the girl to behave and calm herself down. Ginny did as asked for the moment.

Sara frowned and realized Harry's hand still held on top of hers. The young adult woman made no effort to pull the hand away and instead leaned forward.

"So, I thought that….well, I thought that we would run away….."

"Or more likely, he'll play with you, until he finds the next fancy bauble that catches his interest," Ginny said. "Trust me, honey, if he cheats for you, he'll cheat on you."

"Are we speaking from experience?" Nyssa asked.

"I had friends at school who had really poor judgment when it came with men," Ginny answered.

"Harry is with both of you…" Sara said, steering the conversation back into these waters.

"Along with others, maybe more in the future," Ginny said.

The flirty redhead smiled at Sara and the girl blushed in response.

"So, are all of the females in the League….."

"Eventually," Nyssa responded. "When they've proven worthy."

"Did I mention….how creepy it is that you're figuring out what I'm about to say," Sara answered.

"Maybe, I've already gotten in your head, Miss Lance," Nyssa answered. "But, we're getting off of the subject. You haven't slept with Oliver Queen. What about anyone else?"

"No…no other men," Sara replied.

"Oh, I understand," Harry answered.

"I experimented when I was a teenager," Sara confirmed. "I had some fun."

"But not with your sister?" Ginny asked.

"No…Laurel….NO!" Sara yelled, her voice raised an octave when those words came out.

"Relax," Harry informed her. His hands shifted to her shoulders and started to rub it.

Sara tensed for a moment and relaxed. Harry's skilled hands brought Sara to a moment of clarity. The woman wondered what other talents those skilled hands performed. Actually, Sara saw a bit of what Harry could do. Nyssa and Harry need not know Sara viewed the last few moments of their escapades.

"Why would you think that I did…that…with my sister?" Sara asked. "Isn't that wrong?"

"I don't know, you tell me," Ginny fired back.

"Um….siblings, shouldn't sleep with each other," Sara answered. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Sara addressed the following question to all three of them.

"Six brothers," Ginny answered. "Mum really wanted a daughter so…..yeah."

"A younger sister," Nyssa replied calmly.

"Only child," Harry said in his usual detached manner when talking about the past.

"And would you sleep with them?" Sara asked.

"Fuck no!" Ginny grumbled.

"This conversation has taken a turn for the weird."

Cassandra leaned against the doorway and shook her head.

"Cassandra Cain," she said. "You must be Sara."

"Pleased to meet you," Sara said. "So, are you with Harry, too?"

"Sadly, no," Cassandra answered in a clipped tone. "At least not yet, but there's time."

Sara nearly snorted at Cassandra's response. The girl turned towards Harry, deciding to ask him a question that hopefully would not lead to any further awkwardness.

"So, you have all of these girls?" Sara asked.

"Yes," Harry answered.

"How does that work?" Sara inquired.

"Well, that's an interesting question," Harry answered. "And maybe if you choose to stick around, you might find out."

Sara wondered when a carrot would dangle underneath her nose.

"So, I guess you want my answer," Sara said.

"You wouldn't have walked in here unless you had a good idea what you want to say," Harry told her.

Sara felt her bluff called by the powerful young man before her. The woman stood back and wondered whether or not to make the biggest decision of her life. The last time she made a life-altering situation, well said decision indirectly lead her here.

"I'd have to leave everything that I was behind," Sara said.

Harry, Nyssa, Ginny, and Cassandra all remained silent. Sara took the lack of feedback of as a chance to continue.

"You did save my life, when you could have just left me out there to drown," Sara replied.

"I prefer not to waste potential," Harry replied.

Do or die, Sara knew the answer she wanted to give right now.

"So, how do I sign up?"

"Just say, yes, and we'll move from there," Nyssa replied.

Sara nodded in response and extended her hand for Harry. The future leader of the League of Assassins took Sara's hand.

"Will you remain loyal to the League and more important to me?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Sara agreed.

Electricity flew through Sara's body. The entire world flashed around Sara. A multitude of colors filled the world around the eager blonde.

Harry released Sara's hand and smiled.

"So, when do I begin?" Sara asked.

"Where all roads start," Nyssa said. "The beginning. Get some rest, for we train bright and early."

Harry saw another piece of the puzzle fall into place towards his ascension. Triumph filled Harry's being.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen: A Crushing Blow.  
**

* * *

Sara woke up the next morning a new woman. She knew accepting the offer from the League opened a door after a window shut. The woman hoped, vowed, to fight, become stronger. If the moment Sara almost drowned replayed in her mind once, it replayed a billion times. The weakness Sara suffered haunted the younger Lance sister.

' _Never again, not if I can help it.'_

With a renewed determination, Sara dressed and made her way out. The sounds of someone fighting greeted her the moment Sara exited the room.

Nyssa charged Harry, blade extended. Sara stepped back and watched. Nyssa rushed Harry, murderous intentions clear in her eyes.

Sara continued to view the spectacle before her. Harry made no motions to block Nyssa's blade, until the very last second. Harry blocked the blade with his hands, an impressive feat. Sara watched closely. Nyssa released her blade.

Said blade exploded. Nyssa retracted her hand and charged Harry again, a second blade in her hand.

Harry dodged her attack. Nyssa faked out another assault and pulled back. The two blades clashed together with a startling clang. Sparks flew from the impact, and the two opponents stared each other down in a battle of wills.

A burst of energy washed over Sara's body. She clutched onto the side of the railing, aware her nipples poked out on the other side of the white shirt she wore.

Harry brought Nyssa down to the ground. The future leader of the League trapped the Daughter of the Demon on the ground. Nyssa's hands pinned behind her head. The powerful warrior tried to escape.

"Do you yield?"

The sorcerer backed off from Nyssa. Either she yielded or the fight continued, and Harry put her down one more time.

"Yes, I yield."

Harry waited a moment to be certain. Nyssa dropped her arms and her weapon. The warrior woman's gaze fixed on Sara who watched from the railing from above.

"Now, it's safe to join us, if you'd like," Nyssa said.

Sara scrambled down the steps. Her mouth hung open from the aftermath. Harry understood in an instant why she reacted in such a way.

"You felt my power up close," Harry said.

"Yes," Sara said. "You know, when you said magic….."

"Didn't really register anything like you'd imagine?"

Sara paused, and pondered. What did she imagine when Harry dropped the fact he could do magic?

"Magic is only ten percent of the slight of hand and the wand movements, and the incantations," Harry said.

"What is the other ninety percent?" Sara asked.

"Presence," Harry said. "You can intimidate anyone with your mere presence if you have a significant amount of it."

Harry stepped behind Sara. Sara made no attempt to move away from the young man. The woman took half of a step back into him. Harry placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Presence, can intimidate someone, or arouse them, if they get too close to them."

Sara tensed for a moment, and Harry released his hands.

"But, magic isn't the only element where the presence you give off is important."

Several chairs appeared, three in fact. Sara took one, Nyssa took one, and Harry took one.

"Being an assassin means presence is involved as much, if not even more," Nyssa said. "Remember, perception is a great enemy, and by interfering with a person's perception, you deal a heavy psychological blow."

"Meaning a half of a dozen people seem like an army in the right light."

Sara nodded.

"But, how do you….you make people believe, but can you follow up through it?"

"The League of Assassins wiped out entire villages in the past," Nyssa said. "Every drop of blood spilled is warranted."

"Some might argue….."

"Killing anyone under any circumstances is immoral?" Nyssa asked. "Yes, well, morality is a flawed concept. People used morality throughout a history as a license to prosecute those even the slightest bit different than them."

"I'm not arguing against killing when it's warranted."

"Most of the League's campaigns are against people who commit killings which aren't warranted," Nyssa said.

"Are you having second thoughts, Sara?"

Sara's eyes narrowed at Harry's question.

"No, I won't….I won't be weak!"

"You aren't weak," Harry said. "I hope you won't prove me wrong."

Nyssa slid back a little bit until she lingered in the shadows.

' _Well played, Harry.'_

"I won't prove you wrong, don't worry," Sara said.

Sara's gaze burned into Harry's eyes. The woman's fire displayed itself even if with her raw skills.

"I know you will."

"We begin, now," Nyssa said. "Much like many men and women before you, you'll either become stronger, and break underneath the pressure."

Sara believed which quality she wished to exhibit. The woman's gaze burned into Nyssa's eyes.

"Do you have any questions?"

"When do we start training?"

"Follow me," Nyssa said.

Harry watched Nyssa and Sara leave. He returned to the box he liberated from Ivo's store, no closer to unlocking the secrets than before.

He knew the first stage of Sara's training needed to occur one on one with Nyssa. Nyssa brought the best out of the people she trained. Harry knew she offered him the chance to grow.

' _Okay, what makes you tick?'_ Harry asked. _'I know you have a secret in you, the question is, what?'_

* * *

Dinah Laurel Lance collapsed down on her bed. She made a noise halfway between a sob and a growl.

"None of this really happened, a really bad dream. Sara's alive, and Oliver didn't take her onto the boat. I can't believe Sara would….oh, I don't know what to believe any more."

The past couple of weeks after Sara's disappearance made the frustrated young woman rack her brain for a logical explanation, but she thought of no clearer explanation.

"She's….she didn't…she couldn't….he couldn't….well I guess he could…..was this my fault somehow?"

Laurel slumped her head on the pillow, nails sinking into the bed.

The door opened up.

"Go away….I don't want….."

"Did I interrupt the emo parade?"

Laurel rose to the bed. A girl of about twenty years old stood in doorway. She tied her redhair in a ponytail. The girl dressed in a button up white blouse, and a pencil skirt. Boots added to the apparel. A pair of glasses resulted in the impression this particular young lady left a shift at the public library.

"Sorry, it's….."

The other girl pulled out a seat.

"Dinah, you're a wreck. Did you even sleep lately?"

"I can't….every time….I…..is this my fault?" Laurel asked.

"Why?"

"Oliver….well I thought we were finally moving in a serious direction."

The redhead stuffed a hand in her mouth to block out the chortling. Laurel flipped to her back, and propped up.

"Why are you laughing?"

"You thought Oliver Flipping Queen would commit to a long-term relationship. His picture is plastered next to flaky playboy in the dictionary. You asked him to move in with you, didn't you?"

"Yes," Laurel said.

"Of course you did? Dinah, I know you like to see the best of people, but…"

"You never liked Oliver."

"I didn't like him in a relationship with you, I find him to be perfectly acceptable outside of your orbit, and hell….he isn't too bad on the eyes. Which is why, you keep directing your attention towards him, despite the fact you should know better."

"Do you think I'm shallow?" Laurel asked.

The bespectacled redhead frowned and reached towards Laurel, her fingers placed on her hand.

"No, I think you have your flaws. You want to see the best of people. And you wanted to see the best of Oliver, and maybe you did see his good side. Don't tell me if you did, because it's more information than I want to know."

Laurel laughed despite her recent frustration.

"He cheated on you a few times before….and you always took him back. But I think he's passed the point of no return this time."

Laurel's comeback faded off into the distance.

"I don't want to speak ill of the dead," Laurel said.

"My Dad has a rule. No body, still alive."

Laurel frowned. She refused to get any hopes up. The news talked about how the Queen's Gambit vanished at sea. Sara's name never cropped up in the news.

"I guess," Laurel admitted. "How is your dad?"

"Still trying to keep his head above the corruption in Gotham City. It's really become a cesspool, but….I really don't want to bother you with the details. Before all this broke, I intended to get away from it for a while."

Laurel summoned the strength to crawl out of bed.

"And when's the last time you showered?"

"About five minutes from now," Laurel said.

"Pull yourself together. Sara wouldn't want…"

"Please don't tell me what Sara wouldn't want," Laurel said. "It's obvious what she wanted, and….she ended up paying for it."

Laurel's friend threw her hands into the air in frustration.

"Fine, I don't want you to fall apart, and your parents wouldn't want it either. And let's face it, you're mad at your sister for running off with your boyfriend. We don't even know if they did anything."

Laurel wilted underneath the weight of impressive logic.

"I don't know why Sara did what she did. But, don't you dare tell me Oliver didn't know any better. Men, and women to be fair, always know better."

"It does take two," Laurel said. "I've always been….."

"I know you have. But, you deserve better. There are other men out there, or other women."

Laurel gasped for breath at the addition of the statement. She turned around to face her friend.

"Other women…are you….."

"I'm telling you to keep your options open. You never know. And maybe you're upset for another reason Sara ran off with Oliver."

Laurel's finger extended to the redhead.

"Barbara Gordon, you spend way too much time on the Internet. It's beginning to rot your brain."

Barbara stood up to her full height, still a head shorter than Laurel.

"Relax, Laurel, I'm trying to get you to loosen up. Maybe we can hit a club later, or maybe got to the gym?"

"Maybe," Laurel said. "I need to really shower and eat a hot meal, and check on Dad…..hope I don't find him at a bar somewhere."

"Taking this hard, isn't he?" Barbara asked.

"Sara's his little girl," Laurel said. "They had a fair bit more in common than me and him, you know. Maybe he'd trade me for her if he had the chance."

Barbara sensed the tension going on in the Lance household.

"How's your mother doing in all of this?"

"I really need to clean up," Laurel said. "We can hit the gym if you want….I really need to let off some steam."

Barbara stepped back and allowed Laurel to leave her room. Laurel's attitude turned around the moment she discovered Sara ran off for the Gambit.

' _Dinah Laurel Lance, you're a poor broken bird. I wish I could fix you.'_

The girl inclined her head. Given the events of the last couple of days, Barbara understood Laurel and where she came from.

* * *

After a training session, Sara limped around the lower area of the ship. She entered the room and caught sight of Harry. Harry crossed his legs in a sitting position. He stripped himself from the waist up and Sara spent a moment too long staring at him.

"How's training?"

Sara grimaced for a moment.

"You both made it look so easy."

"You're conscious," Harry said.

Sara raised an eyebrow.

"A good thing, then?"

"Very good thing, either Nyssa has a soft spot for you, or you're better than you think. And Nyssa doesn't do soft spots. We've slept together, and she still tries to take my head off when sparring."

"What a strange relationship you two have," Sara said.

The twenty-one year old woman lowered herself onto the ground and winced.

"It's always the first time which hurts the most," Harry said. He opened his eyes and pulled himself to his feet. "Follow me."

Sara strained to rise to her feet. She sat down a few moments later. A few aches and pains filled Sara's body. She closed the distance between herself and Harry with a close step.

"Where are we going?"

Harry waved her into the next room. Sara followed Harry. The compulsion to follow him anywhere filled Sara's body. She viewed his sleek muscular back. The trainee's eyes traced down his back and lingered at a spot on his body.

"Strip off your clothes."

Sara placed her hands on the bottom of her shirt and pulled it over her head. The woman's perky breasts revealed themselves. Sara yanked her pants down and exposed her bare button.

"Lie on your front."

Sara crawled onto the table.

"I'm going to check you out. I can't heal your injuries, unless they're lethal."

"Why can't you heal my injuries?"

"Because, they remind you what you've done wrong. If I healed you every time, you won't learn."

"Can you at least make things more bearable?" Sara asked.

Harry rested the palms of his hands on her back and rolled them down Sara's body. He checked her for any kind of lingering injuries.

Sara stifled a moan. Harry's hands barely touched her body. Like Harry taught her, his presence rolled all over her body.

"Nyssa's a skilled assassin. If she wants you dead, you'll be dead. If she wants you to learn from your mistakes, you'll learn from the mistakes. Do you think she's gone too far?"

"No, I have to learn, I will learn."

"Good attitude, and I agree," Harry said. He applied massage oils to his hands and placed them down on Sara's shoulders. "You'll be stronger. What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger."

Harry rubbed Sara's shoulders and worked down her back. His hands eased down her back and moved closer down between her thighs.

"Lot of tension," Sara said.

"Well, let's see if I can recover it," Harry said.

Harry eased as close to Sara's pleasure center, but pulled back. A light spark brushed her for a moment.

"Is there a problem?"

Sara closed her eyes, frustrating coming across her body when Harry's hands left her. Her body relaxed, and her mind flashed to wildness.

Face down on the table, Sara recognized the position Harry had her in. He hovered over the top of her, checking her out. He added more oils to her skin.

"I can't heal you, but you feel good now, don't you?"

"Yes," Sara said.

"And you know if I can make you feel even better when you improve. You want to prove your loyalty to me, don't you?"

Harry's hands drummed on Sara's back causing her to shudder. His finger edged close to a very sensitive place of her body.

"I'd let you put it there, if you asked."

"Hmm, what do you say?"

"Never mind," Sara said.

Sara wondered if everything progressed fast. The warrior in training enjoyed the sensations of Harry's hand's teasing her.

' _What if I don't want to go too slow?'_

Sara's nerves washed away with pleasure. Some pain returned to her, but Harry's touch resulted in a more bearable level of pain.

"Sara, I need to check on something, rest for twenty minutes, and I'll see you later."

Sara almost cracked her head into the table in shock from what Harry told her. He left her hanging after all of the teasing.

' _Did he teach me another lesson?'_ Sara asked.

Sara vowed to get Harry alone somewhere. She succumbed to him, and Sara wished to convince him to go even further. The younger Lance sister took one piece of candy from the forbidden jar after Harry took her to the edge. She craved another.

The magical oils worked into Sara, invigorating the woman. The oils worked their magic.

* * *

Harry approached Nyssa. Her guard departed from her, and Harry joined her.

"She told me not to hold back," Nyssa said.

"I didn't say anything?"

"If it was my decision, I would have started slower, but Sara, she…."

Harry interrupted Nyssa's words, pressing his finger to her mouth. After retracting his finger, the heir of the demon kissed the daughter of the demon on the mouth. Harry wormed his tongue down Nyssa's throat.

The woman backed against the wall.

"No need to explain to me your reasoning. I know you know what you're doing."

Nyssa relaxed against Harry and the two of them sank down onto the seat. The guards scrambled to start to feed Harry grapes.

"Thank you, but one at a time," Harry said.

The guard walks out.

"I'll go first," Paige said. "So, she's settling into her role well, master?"

"Yes," Harry said.

The enchanting raven-haired woman smiled. Harry sensed more went on in the woman's mind than she revealed from the onset.

"Good, she's a good talent, Nyssa, speaks well of her."

"Yes, she's her new favorite," one of the assassins said.

"I play no favorites," Nyssa said. "All of my trainees receive the same treatment. Some gain more favor, only because they step up their game. Step up your game, and you may get an additional interest."

"If your game is stepped up with Harry, all more the better," Ginny said. She crossed the room. "And you're the most evil man on Earth, by the way?"

"How so?" Harry asked.

"You took her to the edge, and left her hanging," Ginny said.

Cass's stoic expression broke away, and she laughed. The assassins stepped back like she had the plague. Nyssa fixated her gaze on Cassandra. The woman cracked up into laughter.

"Glad I amused you, Cassandra," Ginny said.

"No, it's the way you said it, more than what you said."

"Fair enough," Ginny said. "I'm pretty sure she's joining us too."

"Good, I can't wait to see her up close and personal after Harry tended to her."

"A group of hardened assassins gossiping like school children," Nyssa said. "Disgraceful."

Nyssa's group leaned back and smiled. The hardened warrior women sighed and turned at Harry.

"Banter breaks up the seriousness of what we're going to have to deal with….and I think Sara's on her way."

Harry's declaration slipped from his mouth. Sara opened the door, dressed in the garb of the League of Assassins.

"So, you're relaxed aren't you?"

Sara placed her right hand on the side of the couch and leaned at Harry. The woman flipped a lock of hair out from underneath her face, and smiled.

"Relaxed as I'm going to be right now….so what are we doing?"

"We're preparing to be attacked by the HIVE," Nyssa said.

Sara turned her attention to Harry.

"Are you going to stop them from attacking, or maybe….move the ship out of range?"

"I want them to find us," Harry said. "They're going to send high tech operatives to go after this ship. They're closer up the food chain. I trust, Nyssa's briefed you on everything we've been through so far."

"Yes, she did."

"Good, I know you aren't ready to fight them," Harry said.

Sara frowned. Must he remind her of the fact she started her training, and proved to be useless at this state.

"I want you to watch closely," Harry said.

"How closely?"

"Every single moment. The best way to learn is by seeing someone else do, and not being knocked on your ass."

Nyssa narrowed her eyes. Sara almost laughed at Nyssa's expression, but stopped herself. Laughing now opened herself up for trouble during the training session later.

"Are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure about it."

"And being knocked on your ass helps," Nyssa said. "Harry does have a point, there are few teachers better than the experience of others."

Harry checked the clock ticking on the side. Mere days passed on the outside of the ship, but around a month passed on the inside when they prepared for battle.

Some might argue of an unfair advantage. Harry preferred the term smart strategy. Nyssa and Harry moved off to leave Sara to observe the battle.

"So, he's off to fight them?"

Sara jumped halfway off of the bench. The girl fell over and looked into the eyes of a platinum-haired young woman. Her blue eyes shined bright at Sara.

"I'm sorry, we haven't been introduced."

"I should be resting, but I wanted to meet you. My name is Rose Wilson."

"Sara Lance."

"I know," Rose said. "I'm glad you made it to this ship alive. You can grow into your full potential. Stay with Harry, and you are destined to be something great."

Sara wondered what this weird girl got up. She heard of her greatness, and frowned.

"Don't believe me, let things play out. Everything I see, may or may not come to pass. And I don't even understand half of what I see."

"What do you mean, you see?"

"I see the future, parts of it. The HIVE experimented on me, along with others, and I have precognitive abilities…and within the next few days, my fate might be sealed."

"What do you mean your fate might be sealed?" Sara asked.

"The future is hard to see, especially when it's your end."

Rose collapsed in the air, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. The doors opened, and Sara turned around.

"Oh, thank God, you're back, I….."

Paige frowned. The dark haired woman placed a hand down on Rose's head.

"Her time isn't up," Paige said. "We still have time…..but it's a race against the HIVE to acquire it."

"Acquire what?" Sara asked.

"Harry will explain it to you," Paige said. "Return her to her quarters, all you can do is allow her rest right now."

Rose stood from the chair. Sara propped her up and led the girl.

"You're not going to die," Sara said.

"Maybe," Rose said.

The finality of the girl's tone chilled Sara to the bone. Sara shoved her emotions to the side and escorted Rose back to her room.

Sara observed what Harry, Nyssa, and the League did against the HIVE.

* * *

The HIVE drones arrived outside of the AMAZO. The elite HIVE member's eyes flashed over the ship. Every inch of the ship analyzed and the best way onto the ship studied. Ivo's security showcased the man's intelligence and his arrogance at the same time.

"Ivo assumes himself to be clever, but he's nothing compared to the HIVE. We're going to get back what belongs to us."

Adeline Kane's fists twitched on the ship. She boarded the ship, under the promise Ivo imprisoned her daughter on the ship. Adeline struggled to figure out a more suitable death for the likes of Ivo.

Providing HIVE told the truth. The mercenary braced herself for a double cross. She clutched her hand to the gun.

Adeline climbed on the ship and joined the elite HIVE guard.

"I'm here for my daughter, not for whatever mess the HIVE is involved with."

"You'll help us grab the box, and we'll help you get Rose."

"As an act of good faith, I want my daughter first."

The HIVE turned around. Adeline's skills proved useful, but their usefulness expired. The group stepped onto the ship.

A barrage of arrows bombarded around the corner and hit the HIVE drones. They failed to move, knowing the armor blocked the arrows. The arrow heads glowed and burned through the armor and continued to impale them.

A steady hand picked two more of the HIVE goons off and yanked them into the shadows. The sounds of cracking occurred.

Adeline pointed her gun at one of the shadowed figures. She fired three bullets.

The bullets stopped in mid-air, and vanished into light. Adeline aimed her gun. A swing disarmed her from the gun.

Adeline fell to the ground, in time to see one of the HIVE goons impaled into the side of the ship. The drone slid to the ship, blood and guts spilling everywhere.

The mercenary viewed a looming figure in the darkness. The figure wiped out three armed HIVE drones.

The lead drone fell to the ground, a sword at his throat.

"The League set us up," the drone said.

"Guess, the HIVE isn't as smart as you think."

The cold hard steel of the blade pressed against the drone. The drone lifted into the air and flew down the flight of steps.

The drone crashed against the ground, and winced in agony.

Adeline found herself boxed in by numerous assassins. The woman fancied herself to be skilled, but not skilled.

"I surrender, but please, if you have any decency, you'll let me see my daughter….whether she's alive or dead on this ship."

The leader stepped at Adeline. For a wild moment, Adeline assumed the leader intended to stab her through with his blade.

"If she's dead, kill me afterwards, let me see her. I deserve the closure."

"You're Adeline Kane-Wilson?"

Adeline nodded. The lead assassin considered for a moment.

"I need to talk to the leader of this team, I'll be with you in a moment."

Harry descended down the steps where the broken body of the HIVE drone crumpled. The backlash of the attack froze him. Harry jabbed his fingers at the torso of the drone. The drone jolted awake in the most painful way possible.

"As you might have guessed by now, Ivo no longer controls this ship, I do."

"Ra's Al Ghul will fall!"

Harry's voice dropped to the merest of hints of a whisper.

"A statement both of us can agree on, but for different reasons. And you're all alone."

"There's another task force waiting for you, if we don't report back in ten minutes, they will come after us."

Harry pulled the drone to a vertical base.

"Where are they stationed?"

The drone's refusal to answer pissed Harry off. His mind ensnared the drone's and yanked the information from it.

"Bialya," Harry said. "Good, we'll be ready for them."

The HIVE's attempted invasion of Ivo's ship allowed Harry the key to obtaining one of their greater strong holds. Queen Bee trained her forces well. Among the HIVE drones, Queen Bee's elite guard, based on Hermione's data, proved themselves to be head and shoulders above many.

"You told me everything you need to know."

The drone's heart clenched. The man experienced a heart attack, and dropped to the ground.

Nyssa stood at the top of the stairs. Harry invited her down.

"Search and subversion," Harry said. "We're heading to Bialya."

"Do we have the resources to invade an entire country?"

"We do if we raid the HIVE ship."

Nyssa nodded.

"My guards already have lifted the cargo off of the ship."

Harry stopped and turned around. Ivo's broken body rested on the table. The young man leaned down against Ivo.

"I'd like to kill you, Anthony. But, there's someone else dying to meet you before I pull the plug. Does the name Adeline Kane-Wilson ring a bell to you? The mother of the daughter you condemned to a death sentence"

"Please, no," Ivo said.

Harry turned around and walked up to the ship. Adeline remained where Harry left her.

"Give her some room. If she betrays us, then her next movement will be her hitting the ground."

Nyssa's guard pulled off the mask. Adeline gasped.

"You're, Harry Potter, aren't you?"

"Come with me, if you want to see your daughter," Harry said.

The question ignored, Adeline allowed the young man to lead her forward.

"I know who you are, Adeline, and yes, I'm Harry Potter, although a lot has changed."

"Where is Hermione?"

Harry turned around to face her.

"The HIVE told me Hermione couldn't meet with me, because she's on a hiatus, on another mission. She hasn't gotten in touch in around a month."

"No, she hasn't, because she's dead," Harry said.

"How do you know?"

Harry let the other shoe drop.

"I know she's dead because I killed her."

Adeline's eyes narrowed, and she took a step to Harry.

"Why would you kill Hermione? She was your friend, and she helped you survive for all of those years."

Adeline shivered from the frosty demeanor Harry gave her.

"She has a higher opinion on what kind of help she gave me, than what reality tells you. She assisted me on homework, and happened to find rare pieces of information. The Bumblebee arranged those instances on the orders of his masters in the HIVE to gain my trust with her."

Adeline's face reddened.

"She thought of you as the closest thing to family, and you betrayed her like this!" Adeline yelled.

She drew her weapon out and pointed it at Harry.

"You only have her words to go off, and I have her memories. Any regret she might have had outstripped….."

"Mother?"

Adeline turned away from Harry. Rose stood in front of her. Her daughter looked pale and thin, not to mention extremely sick. The girl's hair clung to her face.

Sara stood behind her and mouthed the word "sorry" to Harry.

"Rose?" Adeline asked.

"Aren't you going to hug me?" Rose asked. The girl's blue eyes rested on the gun. "You aren't going to shoot Harry, are you?"

Adeline hesitated. She crossed many lines, but killing someone in front of her daughter brought her close to the point of no return.

"He killed a girl who….."

"Who sold me out to Ivo?" Rose asked.

Adeline's lip curled at the matter of fact expression from her daughter. The woman slid her gun away.

"I don't understand, Rose. She tried to help me."

"Mother, she gave me to Ivo, and told him to keep me here, until the HIVE secured your loyalty, and she's….well she had a lot of expectations to live up to, but it doesn't…."

"Hermione Granger used you, Adeline," Harry said. "All on the benefit of her master's in the HIVE."

Adeline wrapped her arms around her daughter and hugged her. Rose slumped into her mother's arms and started to shake.

"Rose, honey, what is it? Are you sick?"

"No, not sick," Rose said. "I'm dying."

"NO! You can't be dying!"

"She is," Harry said.

Adeline's attention turned to the same man she intended to shoot moments ago.

"There must be something you can do to save her?"

Adeline tightened the grip on her daughter. The mercenary's terror stood out to Harry.

"There's one thing. The Mirakuru might save her."

"I thought the Mirakuru is a myth!"

Harry touched the hand of the mercenary.

"No, very real, but there are side effects as with everything. The question is, do you think it's worth it?"

"Nothing left to lose," Rose said.

Adeline paused for a moment. She hated to see Rose die after the two reunited. At the same time, the government databases documented the potential mental side effects well.

Do you have an idea where it is?

"Yes, after we're done at Biayla, we'll head there."

Adeline frowned. She wondered why they could not get the formula first, but arguing about it slowed down any progress. Adeline vowed to be an asset and help out, starting now. Atonement for the actions which put Rose in this state started now.

"Then, I have some valuable Intel on Biayla. Consider it payment for saving my daughter, and….not killing me when I jumped to the wrong conclusion."

Harry invited Adeline to proceed with her information.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen: Securing Borders.**

* * *

Queen Bee positioned herself on the throne. The regal demeanor mixed with a dangerous one. She resembled her namesake, someone who rolled over her.

"Be prepared to take the AMAZO ship when it's brought to our shores," Queen Bee said.

Her servant kneeled before Queen Bee. The man's eagerness to please served as a useful tool for manipulation. Many of the members of the HIVE joined because they wished to serve a greater purpose. Knowledge motivated them to move into the world. They embraced a grander destiny of being a drone. Any sense of being an individual faded to be part of the HIVE.

' _To become strong, we must become one.'_

Queen Bee smiled. The fools assumed their lives mattered. The name of the recruits turned to be accurate. Drones, some of them aspired to another height above drones. An ant, one of the Colony, to work under the HIVE to do the heavy lifting.

Thanks to the League, the Colony's forces weakened. More ants scurried to take the rightful place. The queen of the hill fell, but another inches in to take her place.

"If they do not check back within the next ten minutes, I'll know something is wrong. And you'll ready the secondary strike team."

"It will be done, my queen."

The term "my queen" rang out as a term of positive endearment in the mind of Queen Bee. Her grin shifted from ear to ear. The woman understood power and all of the trappings going along with achieving her domination.

Music rang in her ears. The woman's grin widened to an even greater level.

"Good, prepare yourself for it."

Queen Bee fancied herself to be the top of the heap. In the present moment, the HIVE took the role at the top. Darhk intended to change the world. His high end benefactors allowed the HIVE to move past their roots in the League. The centuries old organization grew more obsolete.

The high tech palace Queen Bee settled in demonstrated what accommodates the HIVE wanted to give their chief members. Less than a handful lingered above Queen Bee.

The witch Granger fancied herself in being in a position of power along the lines of Queen Bee. The praising the child received at being the smartest witch of her age affected Granger's ability to think in a rational manner.

The past pulled further away from the rear view.

"What makes you tick?"

Queen Bee brought out an image of Harry Potter. All indications showed Potter survived his trip through the Veil. Not the first time Potter cheated sudden death, nor will it be the last time the young man cheated death.

' _The adage of what does not kill you, makes you stronger applies, then Harry Potter may be on tap to be the most powerful man on Earth.'_

Queen Bee checked to make sure she did not even come close to talking about the possibility in the hearing distance of Mr. Darhk. He remained above her in the pecking order in the HIVE.

Pecking orders changed at a moment. Queen Bee in another life recalled being less than nothing. Thanks to hard work, dedication, and taking advantage of a bad situation with her predecessor, Queen Bee ascended to the top of the throne of Biyala to become the ruler. The crown rested on her head.

The thought made Queen Bee's lips curl into a devious smile. Power danced in her eyes.

' _A little help from the HIVE did not go amiss, but….I made the best of a bad situation.'_

Queen Bee's eyes rested on other nearby shores to add to the empire she grew. The woman's powers proved to be dangerous on most men. The only man she failed to subdue turned out to be Darhk. The man lived for a long time and created an obedience to her pheromones. Or maybe he countered them in some way Queen Bee failed to determine.

One day, Queen Bee may find the answer to it.

The monarch stood from the throne and walked outside. Many of her subjects looked at her. The men sank to their knees before him for a favor. The women's adoration brought a smile to Queen Bee's face than the simpering behavior of the men.

Men throwing themselves at her offered no interest to her. Fools simpered at her feet. Queen Bee used their heads as a means to rest her feet.

"My subjects, you may rise."

The subject rose to their feet. Queen Bee basked in the power she acquired over her subjects. If a savage enough impulse visited her, she could make the subjects turn on each other and brutalize each other in battle.

"Today, I stand before you, as your Queen, and I've liberated you from the oppressive regime of the past. Outsiders seek to disrupt our kingdom, and have called me a cruel dictator. But have I not placed food on your tables, and ensured shelter over your heads? Have I not brought technological advances into this country which are more fitting than the 21st century than the 12th."

The people cheered Queen Bee. Control or not, Queen Bee brought Biyala into a brand new century.

"The royal family over the past several centuries lived in paradise, while the poor people lived in squalor. And now, other countries seek to take away the advances we make. They talk about how they do so in the name of freedom. They wish to introduce democratic elections, but we all know those are a farce. I have ruled with transparency, unlike our friends to the west, who mislead their people and allow themselves to be purchased by lobbyists."

The crowd riled themselves up.

"Long live Queen Bee!"

"The people of Biyala remain busy little worker bees. You have the ability in yourselves to be the greatest country in the world. The super powers cling on based on past accomplishments, while Biyala grows because of building a future world."

The subjects bumped their hands into the air.

"We cannot make a better country. We can only build it. And the foundation is only as good as the people who serve the interests of Biyala!"

The cheers rang up into Queen Bee. She turned away from them to return to the royal palace and wait for the moment.

* * *

Adeline understood her daughter's life hinged in whether or not this mission succeeded. Her intelligence proved to be vital when given to Harry Potter, if she said so herself.

"So, how did Queen Bee come to rule Biyala?" Harry asked.

"I'm curious to know this myself," Nyssa said. "The story I believe is Darhk helped place her on the throne, but….there's more to it than meets the eye."

Adeline recalled the entire sorrid story.

"Biyala is a sore spot for the United States government. Both the official on the books government, and the various government agencies which run under the scope of the general public regard Biyala with discomfort."

Sara, Nyssa, Cass, and Ginny listened in on the conversation. Rose rested on the bed in the next room.

"The United States government funded Queen Bee's assent to the throne. The previous royal family of Biyala developed biological weapons."

"Were the biological weapons ever found?" Harry asked.

"No, after Queen Bee ascended to the throne, she informed us her people destroyed all of the biological weapons the previous Biyala king commissioned."

Nyssa and Harry reached the same conclusion at the same time. Darhk's hands on biological weapons, even the potential, proved to be a ghastly thought.

"We haven't been able to figure out if they got far, or if they were rumors floated by the opposition to gain the help of the United States government," Adeline said. "Queen Bee's a master of deception. She gets what she wants, no matter what it takes when she wants it."

"And she's working with Darhk," Nyssa said.

"Who is this Darhk you keep mentioning?" Adeline asked

"The man who runs the HIVE," Nyssa said. "An old problem my father left behind we're going to correct."

"Two people we know of exist in the same chain of command above Darhk," Ginny said. "An individual named Damon, providing Damon is not another alias of Darhk."

"I thought we came to the conclusion Darhk and Damon were separate people," Cass said. "Given he went face to face with Harry early on."

Adeline cut in with her two cents.

"Well, Damon might not exist. He could be played by many drones in an attempt to throw you off of Darhk's trail."

Harry shifted his gaze to Adeline. She stared him back down without blinking.

"In my line of work, you have to think of all of the weird angles," Adeline said.

"Believe me, I didn't argue with you," Harry said.

"The United States government put Queen Bee on the throne, and would love nothing better than to take her off of the throne," Adeline said.

"What has some done?" Sara asked.

"She's improved the living conditions for the people of Biyala, upgraded all of the facilities in the country, and brought technology and improved agriculture into the country."

"Yes, one of history's greatest monsters," Ginny said.

"It's good from the surface," Harry said. "But there's a rotten undertone to it."

"Thought the HIVE being involved proved this much," Nyssa said. "We're ready to head to the shores and secure Biyala. And if we do so, we deal a powerful blow to the HIVE's operations."

"We don't crush it, we cripple it," Harry said.

"What happens if you fail?" Adeline asked.

Nyssa contemplated Adeline's words for several moments. The response of the daughter of the demon swung in the air. Adeline wondered if she overstepped her bounds by implying failure.

"If the unthinkable happens, we will be set back a great deal. We can cover, but the element of surprise has left us."

"Darhk will know exactly what we're doing," Harry said. "Which is why failure isn't an option."

Adeline admired Harry's ability and conviction. Given the circumstances, Adeline agreed with Harry.

"Sara, do you think you could come with me for a minute? Nyssa, do you think you can make the final arrangements for the siege? If my calculations are correct, we've got six hours before ten minutes pass outside of the ship."

Ginny hung her head and laughed. Only with magic such a statement made any degree of sense.

Adeline stood up straight and rushed to Harry and Sara before they left the room.

"There's something you should know."

Harry turned towards Adeline. His guard increased. The woman's anger regarding what happened to Hermione faded even if disappointment remained in her mind.

"It's about Queen Bee, isn't it?"

"Yes, she acquired powers. I'm not certain if she developed these powers from birth, or experimentation, or….through some kind of other means."

Harry recalled an outbreak of super powered people in the Kansas area after a meteor shower fifteen years ago. Could this Queen Bee acquire her powers in the same method? Harry's inquiring mind wanted to find out.

"What powers does she have?"

"Pheromones, she can control most men and some women with them," Adeline said. "I fear her powers may have grown even stronger with her association with the HIVE."

' _So, Darhk amplified an already powerful woman. Interesting, isn't it? I'm sure he came up with a method to make himself immune to her attacks.'_

"I would take the shot when you come with her, because you might not get another chance. She'd love to ensnare someone powerful like yourself."

Harry chuckled at Adeline's words.

"People who assume I'm easily controlled are in for a rude awakening. I'm not sure how much of your intelligence stretches into the whacky world of wand wavers, but are you aware of what the Imperius Curse is?"

"A curse used to control people?" Adeline asked.

"Correct," Harry said. "And I can throw it off from an extremely powerful dark lord. The HIVE knew they couldn't control me, so their little worker bees tampered with my memory. And it returned and I'm stronger than ever after death."

"What does not kill you makes you stronger?"

Harry smiled and looked at the mature woman. A few scars of war adorned her face, but still beautiful and more than a handful.

"You're catching on," Harry said. "If you excuse me."

"Be my guest," Adeline said.

Adeline watched Harry leave. Something about him stuck with her. The woman failed to put her finger on it, but Harry Potter's enchanting qualities stuck out in her mind.

"He's the best hope in leading the world to a new age."

Adeline's head whipped around in time to see Rose leaning against the door frame. The mercenary's eyes narrowed. Rose smiled at her mother and waved in a casual manner.

"You are supposed to be resting, Rose."

"I can't get any better, I find no point in resting," Rose said. "At least until Harry gives me the formula….hopefully he can….hopefully he can handle me…..if he can't, he's going to put me down, and I hope you help him do so."

"Rose, you shouldn't talk like you do, and you should be resting, so you'll feel better."

Rose chuckled. She slumped against the door for a moment. The moments where the pains turned bearable became few and far between.

"I'm your daughter. Are you really good at listening to directions? I think there are times where you pushed yourself despite the fact you should not."

Adeline took Rose's hand and lead her back to the bed.

"I expected you to find your dead," Adeline said.

"I know you did, and somehow, you think allowing me to die on your watch is worse. Well, I'm sure you're going to help Harry snatch Biyala from Queen Bee, and we'll be one step closer to protecting…"

Rose shook her head. Her mother escorted her back into her bed.

"I wished I could have prevented all of this from happening," Adeline said.

"Everything happens for a reason," Rose said. She rested back into the bed. "Sara's arrival, Harry's near death experience, everything happens. I can only see certain things."

"Tell me more about your gift," Adeline said.

Rose considered her next few words.

"Not certain you can consider what I can do to be a gift. I can see flickers, but it's hard to be clear. I only have a sense of everything going on in the past, present, and future. There might not be any clarity."

"A result of the experimentation Ivo performed?" Adeline asked.

"Along with the HIVE, they tampered with me, thought they could use me," Rose said. "I wonder if they ordered her to give me to Ivo. On one hand, she was the type to follow orders. On the other hand…."

Rose faded into a fitful sleep at the drop of the hat. Adeline placed her hand on her daughter's forehead. She reached into the basin and dampened the wash cloth.

"You're be stronger than ever."

Adeline knew of only one option to ensure her daughter lived her life.

* * *

Harry walked Sara around the base.

"So, what did you think of the battle?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, I expected more," Sara said. "You know, more of an epic struggle to the finish."

"A common misconception," Harry said. "You know, we had the element of surprise over the HIVE, and with the element of surprise….we were able to bring them to their knees."

Sara frowned for a second and considered what Harry said.

"Guess, you've got a point….well of course you have, you've been in a lot more…..well you've fought a lot more people than I have. I'm not sure punting some cheerleader into a wall really counts as being in a fight."

"Did you win?" Harry asked.

"Well, yeah, unless you count being in detention for an entire week as losing," Sara said.

"Just an entire week?" Harry asked. "You didn't hit her hard enough."

Sara laughed in spite of herself.

"Something tells me you spent a lot of time in trouble."

Harry smirked at Sara.

"Yes, swore I spent half of my weekends in detention. Helped pad my record by the fact one of the teachers had it out for me, let's just leave it there, and let it die."

The two of them walked into a makeshift training room.

"But, I've matured past those days a whole lot," Harry said.

Sara dared allow her eyes to sweep up and down Harry's body. Her lips curled into a knowing smile.

"Yeah, I can tell, I can really tell."

"Can you really?" Harry asked. "But, I think the best lesson you can learn is the element of surprise is a valuable tool. Just don't rely on it, because the inverse was true for the HIVE."

"They thought they had the drop on us, but they didn't?"

Harry stepped behind her. His arms wrapped around Sara. She encouraged his actions by leaning back against him.

"Assumptions rarely end well. Nyssa said assumptions are a tool for a fool, and….I find it hard to disagree with her, wouldn't you say?"

"I find it hard to disagree with her too," Sara said. "So, did you bring me out here for anything in particular?"

"A lesson," Harry said. "You can aim well enough with your sight. But how well can you aim with your sight impaired."

A blindfold wrapped around Sara's eyes.

"You have other senses, four of them. The sixth sense is more important. Perception and instincts….given my gifts, I have an unfair advantage with my senses? My Parseltongue abilities grant me a sixth sense."

"The ability to perceive heat even without sight?" Sara asked.

Harry lost his Parseltongue abilities for a short time after he lost the Horcrux. He regained them after the trip to the Lazarus Pit. Many women no doubt agreed him having his Parseltongue abilities.

Jealous wizards prosecuted Parseltongues because of their amazing oral skills. Voldemort never put those skills to use because creating many Horcruxes damaged his libido beyond repair.

Not Harry wanted to think about Riddle getting his groove on. He turned his attention to a more admirable sight in front of him.

"Give it a go."

Sara flung the dagger at the target. Or she attempted to fling the dagger at the general direction of the target. The dagger stuck into the wooden part of the platform.

"Not bad."

"Which means it's hideous."

"You have to relax. Don't overthink what you're doing. If you fail to act in time, you'll die. One of the rules of battle, you know."

Sara positioned herself with the dagger one more time. Harry pressing into her did not allow her to concentrate easily.

"Relax and do. Don't think too much. Ignore your other surroundings other than the target ahead."

Harry's presence caused Sara's hands to falter. She situated herself and aimed the dagger at the target. The training hit the target closer than before.

"Good, again."

Sara hit the target, closer on the third try. Process of elimination allowed her to understand where the target is.

Harry shifted her out of position for a moment.

"Good, try it again."

Sara missed the target by a bit more this time. The new position threw her off for a moment.

"Remember, if you only succeed because of your position, you're going to fall from a position. Adapt."

Harry dragged Sara about ten steps back. Sara frowned and hurled the dagger without much thought.

"Good, almost dead on, but you can do better."

Sara tried to hurl the dagger again. The dagger connected with the target full on this time.

Her sight returned. Harry turned Sara around to fully face him.

"You've learned a lot, haven't you?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Sara said. "But, I'm not ready for battle, am I?"

"I want you to observe the battle again, learn from it," Harry said.

Harry escorted Sara away from the room. Nyssa lingered at the top of the stairs, peering down at Harry.

"So, is everything prepared?" Harry asked.

"Everything is ready," Nyssa said. "We have a small window of opportunity to surprise them."

"We better not let it close before I've gotten on the shores," Harry said. "Sara, I'll talk to you later."

"I'll be waiting," Sara said.

Nyssa escorted Harry off to the side.

"Are you sure it's wise to bring the Amazo this close to the country?"

Harry gripped Nyssa's hand and leaned in closer to her.

"More like it's strategic. I'm trying to do something Queen Bee did not expect. Half of our forces are moving ahead on the HIVE ship."

"League of Assassins dressed in HIVE garb," Nyssa said. "Something about the entire deal is repugnant."

"Unconventional as it is, we need to have them dress in this way to maintain the deception," Harry said. He grabbed Nyssa's hand in a tight manner. "It will work."

Nyssa and Harry met up with Ginny. Cass led half of their group.

"For the record, I don't like dividing our forces any more than you do. But, dividing our forces is needed to accomplish our goals."

* * *

The Biyala royal guard awaited outside of the royal palace.

"Three minutes, if they do not return in three minutes, we're heading out to fight them."

"Here comes the ship now!"

One of the royal guard pointed to the HIVE ship which arrived on the island. The HIVE drones exited the ship and moved to the royal guard.

"Behold, the Amazo."

The ship belonging to Ivo arrived at the shore. Adeline Kane-Wilson exited the ship. The HIVE agents stepped back to acknowledge her.

"I've held up my end of the agreement. I wish to speak to Queen Bee."

"Have you held up your end of the agreement?" one of them asked.

"I have something on the ship she might want to see," Adeline said. "I believe she'll be interested about this."

"I'll be the judge of this."

Queen Bee approached Adeline. The monarch stepped in. Her royal guard parted ways to allow Queen Bee to step to her.

"My dear Adeline, welcome, I'm glad to see you've joined me."

"Yes, I'm certain you are," Adeline said. "I have a gift for you, but I need your continued assistance in finding my daughter. And the insurance Hermione is alive."

"Yes, it comes back to her, doesn't it?" Queen Bee asked. She reached and touched Adeline's hair. "So beautiful, but so naïve, despite your experiences. Regardless you've served me…you've served the HIVE well."

"Wouldn't they be mutual? Someone of your status would be high up in the operations."

"I am, but others are above me," Queen Bee said.

"A shame, I think you'd be an able ruler, "Adeline said. "I didn't know what to make of you at first, but….you have beauty and cunning beyond many."

Queen Bee's lips curled into a knowing expression. She edged to the Amazo.

"Something's not right."

Queen Bee's attention fell upon Adeline not to mention her suspicion. Adeline reached, bracing herself for a battle.

The moment she attacked Queen Bee, Adeline understood the guards all would be on her.

"Do you really think you could deceive me?" the monarch asked. "You're good, I'll give you it, but….."

A loud crack resounded from behind her.

One of the HIVE goons hammerlocked the arm of the Royal guard member. The goon took a face plant into the ground.

Another HIVE goon rushed the Royal Guard member, and nailed him in the chest. A series of jabs doubled over the guard over.

Queen Bee stepped back. Adeline rushed at Queen Bee. Queen Bee dodged the woman's attack. The two engaged hand to hand with each other.

The woman nailed Adeline with a full force attack. Queen Bee jumped up and drilled Adeline with a martial arts kick. The Queen drew her sword and swung it to her enemy.

Adeline rolled out of the way of the attack. The metal clung onto the ground with a sickening impact.

The mercenary squared off against Queen Bee. More members of the Royal Guard arrived to engage her in battle.

"Play nicely. Anyone who takes her out has my favor."

Queen Bee slipped back into the shadows and allowed her Royal Guard to take care of business.

The Royal Guard rushed to impale Adeline and gain Queen Bee's favor. The woman dodged the attack. She snapped the leg of one of them with a well-placed kick to the leg. The man's leg snapped to the side.

The guards scrambled and surrounded her.

Nyssa sprang into battle. She swiped the blade into back of the neck of one of the royal guards. She slit the throat of the male guard. Another guard tried to attack her. Nyssa avoided the attack and impaled the guard straight to.

A female guard rushed Nyssa. Nyssa hit a pressure point and rendered the female guard unconscious. The woman dropped to the ground.

A guard tried to nail her with an electrified prod. The woman avoided being drilled with the prod when it smashed into the ground.

Nyssa caught a dagger flung at her. She returned fire to stab it back into the man who impaled her.

"Block the communications. If Queen Bee calls HIVE, the deception fails!"

* * *

Queen Bee scrambled into her palace. The royal sealed the door behind her. The woman entered a chamber off to the side.

The chamber resembled a high tech honeycomb. The technology inside allowed her to tap into the entire HIVE network. She needed to reach the only man above her on the food chain, because either his HIVE drones turned rogue, or someone posed as the HIVE.

"This is not Ra's Al Ghul's style to perform such a level of deception."

The woman activated the communication tower. The honeycomb powered up.

"Error, unable to establish transmission."

Queen Bee gritted her teeth. She resembled less of a monarch and more of a madwoman. The woman's fingers curled around the edge of the console.

"What do you mean you're unable to establish the transmission? Enact protocol nine."

"Protocol nine blocked by unrecognized source."

Queen Bee exited the honeycomb. She entered the throne room. The woman sensed a presence. The woman reached against the wall and ripped a sharp spear from it.

"Show yourself."

"It must be awful to lose control of everything. But, you don't have control, do you?"

The spear ripped from her hand. Queen Bee staggered. An invisible force bound her. The woman looked up, and Harry Potter appeared in front of her.

"Well, the rumors of your demise are exaggerated," Queen Bee said. "Congratulations for surviving death, even if myself and Mr. Darhk both suspected you may have. And….Ra's Al Ghul decided to make you his heir. I didn't think you would be the type."

"If all of your intelligence about me comes from Hermione, I'm afraid you don't know what type I am. At least, not any more."

Queen Bee scoffed.

"Any intelligence she has comes before her. And I'd imagine you discovered her deception. Her usefulness to the HIVE expired a long time ago. She assumed she would be a queen. She's a queen amongst ants and sheep, but she's not who I am."

Harry's gaze traced patterns over her body. Queen Bee stood proud and tried not to be distracted by the pleasure."

"Darhk discovered you a long time ago. You were a royal dish washer, before he discovered you. He trained you, and made you into everything you are today."

"Darhk didn't make me, I made myself," Queen Bee said. "I grew strong, I took over the country, and became a leader. With or without Darhk, I would have achieved my destiny."

Harry laughed.

"Oh, you're telling yourself these things, but….you don't believe them. You still remain wedged underneath Darhk. Your type of loyalty amuses me, because you dream of a way to undermine him and take control yourself."

Queen Bee's eyes hazed over. The woman chuckled for a moment.

"So, you've bowed before the one and only Ra's Al Ghul. A relic from the past seeking to cling onto the old ways. Does it sound familiar, Harry Potter? I think it sounds familiar, because his attitude lines up well with the world you've come from. I do agree the truly abused and the battered return to a familiar environment."

Harry forced Queen Bee to look at him. The woman drew closer to him.

"Let me make one thing clear, I seek to scorch the old world and build a new one over it. It starts over the ashes of your boss. You're going to tell me where I can find him."

"No one knows," Queen Bee said. "Damien Darhk never lets us know where we can find him. Don't call him, he'll come and find you. I trust you understand this, don't you?"

Harry frowned. He stepped into a situation.

"You've figured out a way to dampen the transmissions off of the island. Clever boy….but you're not a boy, are you, not anymore?"

Queen Bee smiled. Harry allowed her to rest a hand on his chest. The woman traced patterns on it.

"How did you do it?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Queen Bee's lips curled into a light pout. She experienced being denied by another man. The sensation stung her to the core.

"Yes, Harry, I would like to know. We don't need to be enemies. On the same side, the two of us can be together."

She traced her tongue over her lips and ran her hand down. Her hand rested on his abs and reached a little bit lower.

"I don't know if you seek to destroy the HIVE. Wouldn't you rather join us? Someone of your caliber can be very useful."

"No, I don't seek to destroy the HIVE."

Queen Bee's fingers brushed against Harry's crotch.

"I don't seek to join you either."

Queen Bee paused. Confusion struck the woman. Harry took a step back from her.

"I seek to claim everything of the HIVE for my own. Starting with the Queen of Biyala."

"Yes, you can have me," Queen Bee said. "On your knees, Harry ,and show me how you'll worship me."

Harry smirked at her. Queen Bee poured it out to the point where even a full-blooded Veela might think of her efforts to be a bit much.

"You think I'm going to get on my knees before you. It doesn't work this way, does it?"

"I don't understand," Queen Bee said. "All men, they bow before me…"

Harry chuckled as he looked at Queen Bee.

"It's your pheromones, they control the men around you, don't they? They're like the Veela allure."

"The HIVE experimented on full blooded Veela to enhance the powers I had naturally. The two forces combined bring most men down to their needs. The only exceptions were men who immunized themselves to such an allure, men who had no attraction towards the superior sex, or men who….."

Harry smiled and rested his hand on Queen Bee's shoulder.

"Men who are far stronger than you are, my dear?"

"Yes," Queen Bee said. "The pheromones I dosed you with, you should be a simpering idiot. You are….."

"I control Death. Do you really think your pheromones have the slightest chance of controlling me?"

Queen Bee's eyes clouded over for a second. Her hands shook and she stared Harry down.

"If I wished to, I can end this battle from spilling a drop of blood. But Darhk started all this by shuttling me around like one of his pawns in his never ending battle with The Demon. And now, I've got control."

"BOW BEFORE ME!" Queen Bee yelled.

The woman's breathing turned erratic.

"Calm yourself."

Queen Bee stood up straight and took a deep breath. Seconds later, she realized Harry ensnared her mind through her attempt to ensnare his.

"I won't bow before you. But, you're going to kneel before me, aren't you?"

"I won't kneel," Queen Bee said.

Defiance amused Harry. The fact the woman refused to bow at his knees resulted in some amusement from Harry.

"You won't?"

"I won't," Queen Bee said. "I refuse."

"You wanted to douse me with pheromones. Have some of my own."

A powerful force ensnared Queen Bee. A rush filled her body. The woman's nipples hardened behind her top. The bottom half stuck against her crotch.

"No, what have you done to me?"

Harry blocked Queen Bee from grabbing onto him. He restrained her back by the wrists. His power resulted him having the minimal contact with her body.

"I've turned the tables on you."

"You….I need you!"

Harry smiled and stepped back from Queen Bee. An invisible wall formed between them. The woman pounded on the wall for a moment.

"I need you inside me!"

Harry smiled. The wall trapped her in the back half of the throne room. She attempted to bust through the wall.

"There are countless women who wish to have me. They need me as much. What do you have to offer me? You attempted to enslave me, so what makes you think I'll consent to give you what you want?"

"You can't….you can't leave me like this!" she yelled.

Harry's smirk increased for a moment. Queen Bee ripped off her royal garments. She revealed an elegant body for Harry. Her dark hair flipped over her face. The woman's elegant cheek bones and soft lips told the story. Her brown eyes burned for him. More chocolate skin flashed in front of Harry's eyes. The woman's round breasts stood high in Harry's line of sight. Her waist curved with womanly hips and a tight ass. Her center dripped down to the floor. A pair of long, athletic legs topped up. She worked out and had not an ounce of fat on her body.

"I offer you all of me, please take me. Make me your slave! Just give me what I want."

"Hmm, an interesting offer," Harry said.

Queen Bee bent over at the throne and spread her legs. She presented herself for Harry.

"And you make it hard to say no, with such an invitation."

Harry teased removing the field. Queen Bee looked at him. Her body shook in frustration. The woman's hips swayed at him.

"I've got more," Queen Bee said.

She reached down in the garments. A flash drive popped out of it. She held it up.

"Information, information on the HIVE, all of the material I accumulated, everything I know about it. It's everything, I don't have anything else."

The chest jiggled as she extended to give Harry the information.

"Well, it's helpful. I'll be sure to look into it, and get back to you once the information checks out."

Queen Bee's eyes widened. She threw herself to the knees, at Harry's feet. At least as close as Harry allowed her to.

"You have to fuck me!"

Harry narrowed his eyes at the woman. Queen Bee swallowed, his powerful gaze raked over her body.

"Let me make one thing clear to you. I don't have to do anything. I choose to do it. And if I choose to fuck you, you'll spend every moment thanking me and worshipping me as your new master. Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Queen Bee said.

Drool spilled from her lips. The woman wanted to be fucked even harder.

"Don't worry, I'll be back. You're not allowed to touch yourself. Any pleasure you get from now on is by my hand and any other part of my body I chose to give you."

Queen Bee slumped against the ground. The woman's resignation to her life as Harry Potter's bed pet sank in.

' _There are far worse fates.'_

"My subjects will realize…..I'm missing, and word will get back to Darkh…"

"Leave those details to me. I have a plan. I'll be back in the morning. Gives you plenty of time to think about what you've done."

Harry touched her clit with his magic for about ten seconds. He retracted and forced Queen Bee to fall back.

The frustrated woman watched the Alpha Male leave. No way to relieve herself or anything along those lines.

Harry smiled. If he fucked her now, her loyalty might still be in question. If he waited, Harry received more concessions and secured her loyalty without question.

' _And to think, none of this might be possible if she didn't refuse to back off. Opened her mind for the kill.'_

Harry laughed at the situation and walked to check up with Nyssa and Adeline on their progress.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen: Broken.**

* * *

The smell of rotted flesh filled Nyssa's nostrils. The smell choked most women, but for Nyssa, she grew used to such sensations. The woman peered over her shoulder and took note of the fact Adeline's attitude worked out to be among the same, more or less. The woman shifted her attention over the battle field.

"Clean up, the worst part of any mission," Adeline said. "And if my boss catches wind of this, I'm up for an inquiry."

"I think you may have far more pressing matters to deal with," Nyssa said.

Adeline conceded Nyssa's point. The slain male corpses fell at their feet. The League secured the female members of the Elite guard. Only a select few females joined the Elite Guard, ninety-five percent of the guard consisted in males.

Men dead on the inside and broken to Queen Bee's will. Adeline wondered how elite these men were and wondered whether or not they amounted to more than a rather elaborate meat shield to throw themselves in front of Queen Bee.

"I think we've come to an understanding."

Nyssa turned around in time to see Harry leave the royal palace. The daughter of the demon beckoned her husband to her.

"So, if I'm reading your expression correct, you tempted her and gave her an offer she couldn't refuse. The type of offer many women fail to refuse, am I right?"

Harry allowed a smile to creep over his face. Nyssa's assessement showed to be spot on.

"Even a strong willed woman like yourself couldn't resist," Harry said. "What makes you think Queen Bee would?"

Nyssa smiled at the words of praise. Harry slipped behind the Daughter of the Demon and wrapped his arms around her.

"So, did you give her….."

"She's going to have to earn anything I give her," Harry said. "And she tried to douse me with her pheromones and control me like I'm one of little minions."

Nyssa shuddered. Did she feel sympathy for the woman? Only because of the fact Nyssa understood how well any attempts to ensnare Harry ended up going.

"As you know, I don't take kindly to orders."

"No, you give them,' Nyssa said.

Harry slipped something into her hands.

"She claims the information on here is going to tell us everything she knows about Darhk. Which might not be everything we need to know, but there you go. Darhk's not the type to throw all of his eggs in one basket, no matter how lovely the basket is."

"Do you think she's telling the truth?" Nyssa asked.

Harry leaned in and whispered in Nyssa's ear.

"For her sake, she better tell the truth. Or she's going to have a very dry period. I've gotten so deep into her head nothing else will bring her pleasure, unless I allow it. She wants it, and she'll beg for it."

"You're going to take her," Nyssa said.

"I'm going to do more than take her, I'm going to break her," Harry said. "She's not going to ever forget what I'm going to do to her."

Despite his full attentions not being directed at her, Nyssa experienced a full burst of pleasure spread through her loins. His fingers trailed down her body. The sorcerer rested his fingers between Nyssa's loins.

"Is the thought about me breaking some bitch turning you on?"

"I do think the thought is alluring," Nyssa said. She stepped back. "Such an empowered woman being broken by a man, I should be angered of such a thought."

"You should," Harry said. "But, don't be afraid of your true nature, my dear Nyssa."

Harry's fingers trailed through Nyssa's hair for a moment. He pressed his lips onto hers and shoved his tongue into her throat. Nyssa accepted his kiss. A burst of ecstasy spread down her body. Her loins ached for him.

"We'll pick this up later," Harry said.

Adeline shifted attention away. Harry motioned for her to follow him.

The two walked a fair amount away from their present location. The two of them entered a field, obscured by the shadows of trees.

"I've sent a scouting party ahead. I want to ask you one more time if you're sure if we should give Rose the Mirakuru."

Adeline understood why Harry asked her this. As Rose's mother, the decision rested on her. Even if Adeline lost sight of Rose for fifteen years, and she ended up imprisoned, Adeline retained a degree of responsibility over her child.

"She's going to die within a few weeks to begin with. We have nothing left to lose."

Harry closed the gap between himself and Adeline. The two stepped face to face with each other.

"The attitude isn't a friendly one. There's always something to lose. But, do you want my opinion?"

Adeline tried to read Harry's expression. The mercenary prided herself on getting an excellent reading on people. As far as it came to Harry, Adeline's attempts to read his expression fell on deaf ears.

"I'd like to hear it," Adeline said.

Harry closed the distance between the two of them.

"Rose has a better chance of surviving the process than many because of her gifts. It will be a tough one. But if you're there to help with the process, I believe she's going to get out of it fine."

Adeline considered Harry's words. The woman's lips curled into a smile.

"Do you think it will turn out okay?" Adeline asked.

"I think it's going to turn out as well as one could expect," Harry said. "So, I guess we're going forward."

"Yes."

Adeline spoke without any hesitation in her voice. The woman descended all the way into the scenario.

"Excellent, I send a scouting group ahead to the general area, on the HIVE vessel. They'll report back to me when the all clear is ready. I'm curious about the island in the general area."

Harry joined Nyssa. The two of them vowed to find out if Queen Bee's information proved to be secured.

If she deceived him, she paid a very bad price.

* * *

Laurel stepped towards a gym very early in the next morning. She took Barbara up on her offer.

"It's best to go out early, to avoid the crowds," Barbara said. "And given if someone recognizes you….."

"I know," Laurel said.

Laurel dressed in a tight white top and tight yoga pants. She entered the club. Barbara followed her from behind with a black tank top and a tight pair of yoga pants of her own. She smiled and did some stretching.

"How do you stay in such good shape with the weird hours you keep?"

Barbara laughed in response. She stopped doing stretches.

"Because, I think I keep in shape because of the weird hours I keep. And let's face it, I think I broke some kind of record by the number of classes I took at one time. I took college courses when I was still in high school, you know."

"Show off," Laurel said.

"Yeah, pretty much," Barbara said.

She turned her attention to a punching bag and started to punch away at it. She fired a kick at the bag, showing great balance as she did so.

"Why don't you give it a shot, Dinah? You look like you needed to punch something when I showed up the other day, anyway."

Laurel's protest lost itself in the sea of Barbara's logic. The woman fired a punch at the bag. She fired a few more punches.

Barbara threw her hands into the air.

"Stop, stop, stop!"

"What did I do wrong?" Laurel asked.

"First of all, I thought….I thought you took some self-defense lessons, didn't you?" Barbara asked.

"Yeah, when I lived in Gotham, but I kind of…forgot about them when I moved away," Laurel said. "I guess other things got on my mind."

"You might want to pick them back up," Barbara said. "You know, because there are worse vices to have than wanting to kick people's ass. Granted, there's a fine line from being able to handle yourself, and being able to hold your own in the fight against someone who really wants to kick your ass."

"Where are you anyway?" Laurel asked.

"Ask the mugger who tried to attack me, if he isn't in too much pain nursing his bruised balls," Barbara said.

"Wait, you were mugged?" Laurel asked. She grabbed Barbara by the shoulders. "Are you alright?"

She rose up and acted like an overprotective older sister. Barbara appreciated the concern and allowed the older Lance sister to indulge herself.

"Fine, thanks for your concern, but I'm fine," Barbara said. "I'm surprised it didn't happen before then. Gotham City is a cesspool, and I'm the daughter of one of the few decent cops in the city, so yeah."

"Guess, it's a good thing you picked up with those self-defense lessons," Laurel said.

Barbara paused for a moment. The woman looked to be struggling with what she wanted to say.

"Spill it."

"What makes you think I have anything to spill?"

Laurel folded her arms and looked at her friend.

"I know how you act, Babs, and I know you want to say something, but you're biting your tongue about it. So spill the beans."

Laurel's demanding tone made Barbara smile. Barbara stepped back and invited Laurel into the center of the gym on the mats.

"Come on, take your best shot. I want to see how much you remember."

"I took self-defense lessons, not combat," Laurel said.

"Hey, didn't our teacher say the best defense is a good offense?" Barbara asked. "I don't think you can even get a shot in on me."

"Are you sure about this, Babs?"

"Trust me on this one, Dinah."

"The last time you said to trust you on something, we spent the rest of the summer grounded."

"Well, I didn't expect to get caught!"

Dinah Laurel Lance broke out into a round of laughter. She realized Barbara intended to get her to break the stoic façade.

"Come on, hit me, take me out!"

"I don't think….I don't want to hurt you!"

"You need to kick a person, kick me, pretend I'm Oliver!"

Laurel's eyes widened at Barbara's gaze. The woman's shoulders slumped for a moment.

"What, too soon?"

Laurel fired a kick at Barbara. Barbara crouched down and dodged it at the last minute. She swept her friend's legs out from underneath her. The older Lance sister fell to the ground with an ooff. She felt all of the wind knocked out of her.

"Not too bad."

Barbara reached and helped Laurel up to her feet.

"Which means it kind of sucked," Laurel said.

"No, you're out of practice," Barbara said.

Laurel looked up and frowned. A female walked past the gym. The woman pulled her hood over her face to obscure either women from seeing her face.

The woman slipped into the shadows after a brief second.

"Okay, weird, but not the weirdest thing I've ever see," Barbara said. "So do you want to follow her a little bit, see what she's up to?"

Laurel shook her head.

"She's not up to anything. Must have been checking out the gym, or something, I swear, Babs, you being in Gotham City has made you paranoid about everything."

Barbara leaned in and touched her hand to Laurel's. The two girls locked eyes with each other after a second.

"Just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they aren't out to get you? Stop and think about it for a minute."

Laurel sighed and smiled. She leaned against the wall and did some more stretching.

"So, do you think I've embarrassed myself enough, or do you think I've….."

Barbara shoved Laurel down to the ground. The glass of the gym windows shattered thanks to a dagger being put through it.

"Someone wanted our attention," Barbara said. "Yeah, I know, I should be arrested by the obvious police."

Laurel dragged herself to her feet. She noticed a note tied to the dagger.

 **The Gambit going down was not an accident.**

* * *

Queen Bee wondered if her feeling right now showed any similarities to a prisoner on Death Row. The monarch lingered for several hours, no chance of relief. Harry Potter ensured she received no chance in relief, no matter what.

Every single moment, Queen Bee looked up, she hoped for her master to return. Her hopes flatlined every single time at only a League member or someone else ensuring she remained in her place.

Queen Bee knew the point of what they were doing. There's little chance she escaped even if she wanted to. The woman closed her eyes and thought about her new master. Her loyalty to the HIVE, well she still wanted to achieve her goals. Just now those goals would be at the behest of another man.

' _He'll take over the HIVE, when Darhk gets overthrown. So technically I haven't become disloyal. I'm merely switching my masters to someone more worthwhile.'_

"I checked your information over."

The very powerful voice washed over Queen Bee. He grabbed, no commanded, a person's attention. The woman's eyes looked up at him. Need burned on them, need filled her body. Her body needed to be filled by him in every single way possible. Queen Bee rose up and pressed it against the barrier.

"Did you find it….to your satisfaction? Because I can do other things to your satisification, if you wish me to!"

"I'm sure a slut like yourself knows all about satisfying men," Harry said.

A bit of Queen Bee's old personality broke through.

"I don't satisfy men, they fail to satisfy me. And I never allowed them to touch me, or allowed them to be inside me."

"Good, then I don't have to make you go through the ritual. Although it will be more painful if you're lying to me."

Queen Bee's eyes flashed over to Harry. Her breathing increased.

"What do you….what do you mean?"

"I restore the virginity of all of women with a magical ritual before I take them, if they lost it. The process hurts about as much as losing it in the first place, but the pleasure you'll get more than makes up for it."

"Is it for opposite sex, or do same sex relations count?" Queen Bee said.

"In the eyes of magic, it's only male on female, or female on male depending on your perspective," Harry said. "I didn't make the laws, I'm not sure who did, but there you go. I'll scan you to ensure you're lying. But, it seems like you've had your fair share of fun with your female servants, so….we'll see how far you've gone."

The scan prickled over Queen Bee's body. She felt him peering deep inside her soul for a moment. Time stood still when she waited for the other shoe to drop.

"Good, you haven't lied to me, perhaps there is hope for you yet."

Queen Bee smiled and the barrier lowered. Harry stepped to her.

"Now, I can proceed, to ensure your loyalty remains with me."

Harry waved his hand over Queen Bee's body. Several runes burned into her naked body for a moment before they faded.

"What are these, my lord?"

"Merely a formality," Harry said. "Prove your loyalty, crawl towards me."

Queen Bee crawled the short distance over to Harry. The woman lingered at Harry's crotch. Her hands lifted up, but paused.

"May I?"

"Go ahead, pet, do it."

Queen Bee unfastened the buckles of Harry's pants. More arousal pumped through her body when the glory awaiting her lengthened before her.

* * *

Sara reconciled in her mind Harry never gave the order for her to stop observing him. So she did nothing wrong by watching him take Queen Bee in every single way.

The assassin in training struggled for self-control. Something told her if she attempted to relieve herself, she ended up failing the lesson. Sara could not explain how she knew this, but the girl's hunch may prove to be accurate.

Sara watched as some time passed. Harry showed no signs in slowing down, or deflating. The woman licked her lips when she watched her master take Queen Bee from behind.

The younger Lance sister blinked. When did she come to think of Harry as her master? She didn't see herself as submissive. With other woman, she always became the dominant one. She never crossed the final frontier.

' _He must take the strongest women, because it gives me power. Who can really have any enjoyment from bending a submissive to their will? No challenge….oh, I can't believe this is still going on.'_

Sara's nipples hardened at the view of what Harry did to Queen Bee.

"Wreck the bitch."

The words barely came out of her mouth. Sara's fingers traced on her stomach, but she pulled away. The twenty-one year old woman summoned all of the will power possible to avoid touching herself.

Her pussy called to her. Sara wondered how much it might hurt if she stroked it.

A pair of hands gripped hers and pulled her to a standing position. Sara reacted to the sudden action by pulling away and directing herself into a battle stance.

"Perfect, you're learning. You should have attacked before I touched you, but baby steps."

Sara turned to go face to face with Nyssa. The Daughter of the Demon stepped back to allow Sara some oxygen. The budding assassin never broke eye contact.

"How long were you there?"

"Long enough for me to remember you're still learning," Nyssa said. "So, you've decided to watch our master when he's at work."

"He never once told me to stop observing him."

Nyssa paused for a moment, and smiled. She crossed the room and placed her hand on Sara's shoulder. She took her over hand and flipped the lock of hair away from her face.

"No, he didn't tell you to stop observing him, did he?"

The two of them lingered so close. Sara wondered what Nyssa would be like.

"And you're worked up, but you understand this is a lesson of control more of anything. And if you exhibit enough control, Harry will reward you."

Sara blinked for a moment. Nyssa drawing closer to her helped little with any self-control. The beautiful assassin's kissable lips inches away from hers tempted Sara.

Nipples hardened from behind her shirt. Sara kept her base desires down to a minimal.

' _If I do what I want to do, she'll kick my ass, and not in a good way.'_

"Do you want me to help relieve you?"

Nyssa's breath hit Sara's ear. Her knees turned to jelly when the daughter of the most dangerous man on Earth offered her something she longed again.

Sara's eyes averted to the images she saw of Harry. Nyssa grabbed Sara's head and guided her into locking eyes.

"Look at me Sara. I asked you a question, and I would be very disappointed in you, if I didn't get an answer."

Nyssa's words penetrated Sara's mind. The woman closed her eyes. She imagined herself in the middle of a threesome with Harry and Nyssa. The thought heated her loins for a brief moment. Her fingers tensioned.

"He's about done, and you haven't broken," Nyssa said.

Sara groaned. Nyssa's tongue trailing over her lips very nearly caused Sara to lose all sense of control.

And you haven't answered my question, Sara!"

Nyssa's firm commanding voice brought Sara out of her thoughts. The woman's knees turned to jelly when she bent down at them. The combined gaze made Sara long for Nyssa's touch, but she understood the price for such thoughts.

"You're not allowed to, until he say so," Sara said. "I know….you're tempted, but I know."

"Yes, good," Nyssa said. "I thought for a moment you'd break."

Nyssa teased dipping in for a kiss, but edged back. Sara dropped down the chair. If she wore panties, the teasing on both fronts moistened them for sure.

"Well, I think he's about done," Nyssa said. "Took him long enough, but….he needed to ensure the loyalty of our newest asset. Did you enjoy watching him take her?"

Sara barely avoided answering. Her body language told the entire story. Nyssa turned around to walk off. Sara watched Nyssa leave. She took her time departing. Sara both watched Nyssa's ass and braced herself for a potential attack.

Nyssa left the premises. Sara turned away, but Harry left a broken and battered Queen Bee in his wake.

' _Can't wait to have him fuck me like he did her.'_

Sara vowed to step up her game and get what she wanted. She entertained herself with the thought of Harry taking her against the wall and fucking the daylights out of her, in every single direction.

The horny blonde gasped at the thought. Something almost broke in a matter of seconds. Sara leaned back and sighed.

' _I guess some things are worth waiting for. But damn, the wait feels like hell.'_

X-X-X

"All roads lead to purgatory. Lian Yu, it's….it's off of the books for various reasons," Adeline said.

"You seem to know about more about this place than you should," Cass said.

Cass's hunch often proved to be correct. The ability to read a person's body language showcased all of the instances where they were keeping information.

"My ex-husband's mission put in around the area of the island….he couldn't tell me what it was, for obvious reasons," Adeline said. "And we made a rule never to talk about our missions on the rare occasions where we're both at home. Plausible deniability works when you make many enemies."

"Yes," Harry said. "And our scouting crew is almost back. I wonder what they've discovered."

"People on the island are normally left to die," Adeline said. "It's not a place where many have the ability to bounce back on. It's a virtual hell, where even the fittest struggle to survive."

"Sounds like a challenge," Harry said. "If the Mirakura is near the island, who knows what other surprises are on the island."

Adeline's gaze raked over Harry's face. Harry reached and took her hand.

"But the secret of the formula is the most important of all."

Ginny returned with the small task force of the League members.

"So you made the trip without any difficulties?" Harry asked.

"Not a problem," Ginny said. "The ship made it back and forth between her and Lian Yu like a charm. So the AMAZO should have no problems navigating it."

"Is there anyone on the island I should be concerned about?"

Ginny wondered when Harry would get around to this point.

"We spotted a small military force around the island. Not sure what they're up to. They're far away from where we need to be."

"Good," Harry said. "If they don't get in our way, there's no need to engage them."

"I noticed someone else on the island," Ginny said. "I'm pretty sure Oliver Queen made it to Lian Yu."

Harry took this news in stride. He looked at his wife.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked her.

"Well, I'm not one hundred percent sure. But he matched up what Sara said pretty well, and I nicked a paper which talked about his description. The Queen on the island looks a lot more scruffy, but something tells me a shower and a shave isn't a luxury you have on an island where you're fighting for your life."

"Trust me, it's not," Adeline said.

Harry pondered what Ginny said.

"If you asked some people, you have a saving people thing," Ginny said.

"Given who coined the phrase, I'm not sure if I should be insulted," Harry said.

Ginny's face contorted into a sheepish frown. She realized how offensive her words might be to Harry.

"It's okay," Harry said.

"If the opportunity presented itself, would you rescue Queen from the island?" Ginny asked.

Harry closed his eyes for a second and shook his head.

"Sure, it may seem to be the right thing to do, but is it really? Did anyone ever stop and think whether or not Oliver is on the island for a good reason?"

Harry looked over his shoulder. He cleared his throat. Sara stepped into the picture. She shuffled her feet.

"Did you really see Oliver?" Sara asked.

"I'm sure I did," Ginny said. "He looks like he hadn't showered in about a month, or shaved, but I'm pretty sure it's him. He looked to be running from someone, or something."

"Oh, he did?" Sara asked.

"Sara, do you think I should save him?" Harry asked.

"I think you should do what's best," Sara said. She stepped to Harry with a smile. "And if you think I'm hung up on Oliver in the slightest way….the girl I was died on the ship, just like the guy you were died when you passed through the veil."

"Technically, you didn't die," Harry said.

Sara passed forward, and gave Harry a kiss on the lips. The younger Lance sister stepped back, surprised, but pleased, at her own daring.

"Felt like it, and if it wasn't for you, I'd be screwed. I'm in your debt."

"Being in Harry's debt doesn't come without perks," Ginny said. "Trust me, I know."

"You don't say," Sara said.

The blonde's gaze raked over Harry's face. She wondered about any ramifications about the spontaneous kiss she gave him.

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Focus on the mission," Harry said. "Oliver's not what we're going there for. We might not even run into him."

"Harry, you and I know….."

"Ginny, don't tempt fate," Harry said.

Ginny folded her arms and stuck out her lip with a pout. Adeline cleared her throat.

"So, are we ready to go?"

"Yes, let's head out," Harry said.

The League prepared for the next phase of their mission. Harry wanted to avoid anyone on the island if possible, but the military force and the missing heir threw a bit of a cog into even the well placed plans.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen: Beacon.**

* * *

Most people waking up to Death sitting on the edge of their bed tended to freak out a little bit. Harry smiled when he spotted Death sitting at the edge of the bed. Her arms and legs crossed together when she looked at Harry.

"So, you've really changed everything, haven't you?"

Harry leaned in to Death.

"I would think if I'm not allowed to change something, then it wouldn't change. Or am I mistaken?"

Death flipped her dark hair away from Harry's face. She smiled at Harry and leaned to him.

"You're asking me to explain how reality works. Fate is a finicky concept even when you take out super powered beings. I don't know when someone is destined to die until they linger outside of my doorstep. And even I don't have a one hundred percent success rate. Regardless, you're heading to the island, aren't you?"

"Yes," Harry said.

"Excellent, I wouldn't intervene with anything on the island, but do keep a close eye on the proceedings, master," Death said.

"You're talking about Oliver Queen, aren't you?" Harry asked.

"Mr. Queen's story may or may not end up intertwining with yours, Master," Death said. "His fate still is yet to be determined. He is stalked by the mark of Death, but he hasn't been branded by it, yet. Destiny is not about what is written in stone, it's about the decisions he made."

"Do you think I should intervene because I know he's there?" Harry asked.

Death paused for a moment. She reached for Harry and clasped his hand. The two lingered on each other for a moment.

"Your instincts tell you, you shouldn't, do they?"

"I think my bias might be clouded," Harry said. "I have a reason to let him rot on the island, as you know."

"Yes, and anyone could understand," Death said. "You may be doing him a favor to allow him to remain on the island."

Harry wondered if Queen might agree. Death vanished into the mist for a moment. Sara approached him at the edge of the bed.

"So, we're going to head to the island?" Sara asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "You have no problems with me not intervening to rescue Oliver, do you?"

Sara took in a deep breath. She stared at Harry for a moment.

"He hasn't given you the best first impression, has he?"

"He really can't give me much of an impression, I haven't met him," Harry said.

"Yes, I don't see the two of you getting along somehow," Sara said. "And….you think the moment he gets off his island, whoever sabotaged the ship might intend to finish the job."

"You think he's the target?" Harry asked.

"Well, he's either the target, or his father," Sara said. "We don't know what Oliver knows to be honest."

"I'm more concerned about the military operating going down on a remote island."

Nyssa stepped out of the shadows to join Sara and Harry. She sat on Harry's right as Sara sat at Harry's left.

"But, it's Harry's call," Nyssa said.

"Remember, we need to get the serum out before the HIVE discovers where it is," Harry said. "Rose's health is teetering. She's not dead yet, but….if we don't treat her soon, she's going to have permanent damage where the serum might not fix her."

"So, what are we going to do?" Sara asked.

Harry rose up to his feet. They approached the island, at least to the point where it entered Harry's line of sight.

"Raise the formula, and try to attract the least amount of attention as possible. If the military operation or anyone gets in our way, we'll take care of them. If not, well, they can do what they do on the island."

In another life, Harry's curiosity piqued at something like this. This time, Harry's own interests and the interests of his girls superseded anyone else.

X-X-X

The dark of night allowed the perfect cover for the League. Harry, Cass, and Nyssa slipped from the shadows. A small knit group to be honest, but regardless, they entered.

The island looked deserved as the outside room assumed Lianyu to be. Harry knew appearances proved to be deceiving.

"Magic in the air," Harry said.

"I can feel it as well," Cass said. "Parts of this island is used for a prison, so you don't suppose magic users used the island?"

Harry noticed a row of ancient runes on the wall. He tensed up.

"What?" Nyssa asked.

"A very bad past experience," Harry said. "If you see statues anywhere, destroy them at once."

"Why would….."

Nyssa's voice trailed off when she understood what Harry said. The trio made their way down a tunnel which allowed them a one shot access point to the lower entrance of the sub.

Harry adjusted an ear piece in the side of his head. He noticed some radio signal.

"Couldn't have gotten far, keep searching. We don't want them to interfere with our plans. The plane needs to be brought down."

Harry frowned and craned his neck to listen in on the conversation for another couple of moments. He didn't get any further information.

"What do you think they're up to?" Nyssa asked.

"I don't know, but….we need to head forward," Harry said.

Harry crossed the runes leading out into the tunnel. He expected the magic in the tunnel to trigger. Harry stood up straight, determined not to allow magic to bitch slap him in any way whatsoever.

The three of them left the tunnel. Gear on, they slipped inside the sub.

Nowhere obvious, and Harry thought for a couple of moments someone either beat them to the formula, or it never existed in the first.

' _The formula better exist for all the trouble I got through to get here.'_

The cloaking charms on their outfits allowed them true invisibility, but really an added bonus to the standard stealth methods they utilized.

"Harry."

Underneath a work bench, Cass spotted a rather worn shoe box. Harry raised his eyebrow. Surely, one of the more dangerous formulas in the world could not be hidden in a downed sub underneath a workbench inside an old shoebox.

Harry's mind slipped back an instant. Of course hiding the Miraku in such a place made perfect sense.

He opened it. The formula glinted in the dim light of the ship. Hot fire rested in Harry's hands. He had the methods to empower people.

"We should leave," Cass said.

The three of them slipped from their position on the ship and made their way inside the tunnels. The HIVE vessel cloaked off of the island, which would bring them back to Ivo's ship.

"Make sure it's still down here. If anyone's moved it, we're going to have a serious problem."

Harry, Nyssa, and Cass stepped into an alcove. A military garbed man slipped into the depths of the tunnels. He looked to the second man standing in the shadows.

"Tell your boss not to get her panties in a knot…"

"If you value your tongue, you won't say it within her earshot. The old man can't have gotten all far."

The trio waited for the men to leave the tunnel. Harry took a look at what they stored down here.

"Well, this kind of fire power would be enough to take a plane out of the sky," Harry said. "Let's go."

The three of them departed from the checkpoint and traveled across the island, not meeting anyone on their way out.

"We're off of the island," Harry said. "And on the HIVE vessel, ready to head back to the main ship now."

"You found it?" Adeline asked.

"We found the formula, yes," Harry said. "The moment we get back, I'm going to run some tests. I'm sure your daughter can wait a few days more."

"You're going to make sure it's safe?" Adeline asked.

"Yes, and I'm going to make sure it does what it intends to do," Harry said. "According to Ivo's research, it can bring someone an inch away from death, and Rose isn't even close to death."

"But in a couple of months, she might be," Adeline said.

"Yes, I know," Harry said. "We're on our way back."

Harry eyed one of the vials with a frown on his face.

"Harry, if you need someone to test the vial on, I'll be happy to do so," Ginny said. "It might….well it might restore certain things about me."

Harry smiled. Ginny grew beyond her magic in the last couple of months, but Harry wasn't sure if the serum went as far to restore lost magic.

"I appreciate your loyalty, Ginny, but I've got the perfect test subject for the matter already."

Nyssa and Cass cast Harry apprehensive looks.

"I'd be happy to help you in any way," Cass said. "And if it heals….well I've got more than enough evidence to show."

Harry's eyes raked over the scars on her arms, and many other scars existed on other parts of her body.

"Again, I appreciate all of the offers for help, but I've got an idea."

* * *

Rose rested on an operating table in one of the rooms of Ivo's ship. The same room once housed some of the more deadly prisons on the ship for their prison experiments performed by Ivo. Now, Harry prepped Rose for the surgery.

Adeline stood on the other side of the window and observed Harry prepping her daughter for the process. As a mother, she experienced a nerve racking moment as she waited for a very dangerous, but necessary surgery. Adeline pushed those maternal instincts all the way to the back of her mind, and focused on the necessity of the solution.

"Don't worry, Rose, you won't feel a thing. I've made the surgery as safe for you as possible."

"I know you wouldn't….without putting me in here," Rose said. "And thank you for not injecting the formula into me straight without any preparation. I can see bad things happening to people. So, I'll be the first who will be tested with this formula."

"The second," Harry said.

Rose looked up in surprise.

"Who is the first?"

"Don't worry, Rose, it went fine," Harry said. "As it will go fine for you, but you'll be put to sleep for the next two days. And you'll wake up a new person. Being awake during the changes won't be pleasant."

Rose smiled when the sedative entered her body. To be fit again, Rose struggled to remember of a time where she experienced those sensations.

Harry stared down at Rose. He stepped into the chamber to join Adeline. Harry activated the machine, and a liquid injected into Rose at a safe rate.

"Each cell needs to be treated at once, slower, but safer," Harry said. "Especially when you don't have magic or any other altered DNA."

"What happens if a person who has magic is injected with the formula?" Adeline asked.

Harry turned to the woman. He pondered.

"Good question, one we'll get the answer to all too soon. But, I think the formula is safe."

"You waited a couple of days before giving it to Rose," Adeline said.

"You wanted me to verify the formula as safe for your daughter, didn't you?" Harry asked.

Adeline didn't hesitate to nod her head.

"Yes, but the question is how do you feel?" Adeline asked.

Harry chuckled at her question. Granted, her question proved to be a logical one and one which should be asked given the circumstances.

"My stamina has increased, my strength has increased, and I feel like I'm on the cusp of accessing abilities which have been buried deep down inside me," Harry said. "But, those are only a few tools in my toolbox."

"Do you have a good idea what those tools might be?" Adeline asked.

Harry turned from the woman to observe the situation. He looked at Rose who received the final level of the treatment. Her body twitched for an instant and faded into sleep.

"A good sign she went to sleep on her own accord," Harry said. "Rose's vital signs are good. She's strong, but I can tell where she gets it front."

Harry's brain power increased from his little experimentation. He recalled the box which vexed him in Ivo's lab.

With the resources Harry secured with his shadow partnership with Queen Bee, the heir to the Demon reckoned the time was ripe for another attempt to delve into the special box.

' _What's there to lose? Not a whole lot, I don't think.'_

"I'm sure she'll like a friendly face when she wakes up, but it won't be for two days. You might want to get some sleep, Adeline."

Adeline rose to her feet. She moved closer to Harry when the two of them shined in the moonlight.

"Sleep is a luxury I learned to go without. Thank you for everything."

* * *

A shell shocked Laurel ran over the message in her mind dozens of times since she read it. She didn't decide to share it without anyone. The police arrived to investigate the source of the window broken, but it's easy to pass it off as neighborhood vandals. Several gangs set up shop in the midst of this particular neighborhood, so not too difficult for them to pull this level to deceit.

Barbara touched her hand on Laurel's shoulder.

"I know what you're thinking, and….there's a strong possibility. But even if the Gambit wasn't an accident, it was sabotage, your sister and Oliver and everyone else….."

"I know," Laurel said. "But this goes for an accident to murder."

"I know," Barbara said. "And there's some rather dangerous people involved if they went to the trouble of sabotaging a boat. I'm not even sure what they intended to pull off, but nothing good could come from what they were doing."

"I agree," Laurel said.

Barbara's eyebrow rose. She chose her next few words with care.

"You know, I'm with you about finding out what happened. But, did it ever occur to you someone touched in the head is trying to play games with you? And if they weren't touched, they were hoping you'd try something stupid."

"I don't know," Laurel said. "But, if there's a chance….."

Laurel allowed her words to trail off for a moment. She rose up to her feet and did not know what to do.

Every second, Laurel thought of what might happened if Sara walked through the door, alive and healthy. The older Lance Sister anticipated and feared the moment at the same time. What would she say? How would she act? A lot changed since Sara left.

"Well, I do wonder something else."

Barbara's soft voice ripped Laurel from her musings.

"I wonder if there's someone trying to test us, for whatever reason."

Laurel's brow wrinkled up in confusion. She leaned in to Barbara.

"Why would someone want to test us? Who have we pissed off?"

"For myself, a few people. And I'm sure your Dad's stepped up a few toes as well. It's the hazard of being a daughter of a cop. People you've never met could be pissed off at you."

"Do you think Sara was the target on the Gambit?" Laurel asked.

"I doubt it," Barbara said. "My keen detective instincts tell me Ollie or his Father were the intended murder victim. Anyone else on the ship is collateral."

"Since when were you a detective?"

Barbara turned to her friend. Laurel unintentionally struck a raw nerve her in. The two girls locked eyes.

"Well, I wanted to be a detective. Dad disagreed with me, and said he didn't want the life for me, even if I'm really good at it."

"Well, the police force is no place for a young woman with a future," Laurel said.

Barbara frowned.

"Well, maybe we can't do anything officially, but we can at least take a look around."

"And here I thought you discouraged me because there were some very dangerous people involved."

Barbara slid her laptop from her bag. She wanted to take a closer look at the news reports of the small piece of the ship they found which verified it going down. Where did the rest of the ship go?

"Well, we're going to have to make sure they don't find out we're onto them."

* * *

Queen Bee swept into the Honeycomb to meet with the HIVE Council. The monarch stepped through past the drones as if she thought herself to be superior to them, and in many ways, she believed herself to be.

The woman turned to a view screen. The Council parted like the Red Sea. Queen Bee's gaze averted up.

"Yes, Bee, what do you have to report on your success?"

"I'm afraid in an attempt to escape from us, Ivo's vessel blew up."

Queen Bee waved her hand. Her royal guard carried in several pieces of "Ivo's damaged vessel" and rested them on the floor.

"We have managed to uncover several parts of the wreckage, along with several devices, although they have been damaged."

Silence followed. The HIVE drones waited for their leader's words. Queen Bee failed a mission. If any of them ever failed a mission, they never saw the light of day again.

The sword failed to drop on Queen Bee. Her gaze penetrated the face of her master who stared her down.

"I understand, my dear Queen Bee. And you did not return empty handed. My scientists will see what they can do to salvage. I'm relieved to see you're intact, and your rule of Biyala has not been compromised."

Queen Bee's pride broke through the mask she wore.

"Why would my rule of Biyala be compromised?"

"The League of Assassins are on the move, with their leader mounting a campaign against me. Ra's Al Ghul and I had an agreement, but over the years, he regretted it, I believe. And now he wishes to take back what he assumes is his over some perceived slight. I think we can both agree the Lazarus Pit has driven him to fits of delusion."

Queen Bee's tongue remained still. Trying to inform her master he went through the same process to maintain his immortality, might result in her losing more than her tongue. She kept her head bowed down and her expression neutral.

"Well, rest assure my rule of Biyala remains sturdy."

"See it remains as such, I worked hard in putting the country into your hands. I trust you will not disappoint me, my Queen Bee."

The heavily distorted voice concluded. Queen Bee took his voice as her cue to rise to her feet and walk off.

"See what you can accomplish with the equipment, if you can accomplish anything," Queen Bee said.

"The scientists will have to look at the equipment to see what can be salvaged."

"See, you do so."

Queen Bee walked from the HIVE facility. Darhk either did not expect anything, or chose not to call her out on the deception. Queen Bee debated in her mind which one proved to be more accurate.

* * *

"Queen Bee had a few fortress's on her island, hidden even from Darhk."

Harry hunched over the box in one of the many Fortresses. Cass, Nyssa, and Sara joined him to keep him company.

Sara watched Harry. Since kissing him, Harry didn't say one word, or even call him out on it. Sara acted on an impulse, and one she did not even regret acting upon either. She waited for the other shoe to drop, and for Harry to say something.

Nothing did though, and Sara felt nerve racking.

"Well, Queen Bee's been a very naughty girl, then, hasn't she?" Sara asked.

"Of course," Harry said. "But, you'd know all about being a very naughty girl, don't you?"

Sara smiled.

"You told me to observe everything you done, and you never told me to stop."

"No, I didn't," Harry said. He swept in and leaned to Sara. "You've done well….and you're really coming along fast with your training."

"Well, it helps if I have a proper incentive," Sara said.

Harry turned his attention to the box. He hooked it up to the high tech computer in an attempt to get it working.

"I'm pretty certain the entire device is cooked," Nyssa said.

"I'm not sure anymore," Harry said. "There's something inside the device."

"What do you mean something inside the device?" Sara asked.

"I don't know…..I had a spark for a moment there. Ivo had it, the HIVE had it, it had to be something very important. And I want to know where whatever this box attached to went."

Harry spoke in a matter of a fact matter, so much anyone found it difficult to argue with him. The young man's eyes swept over the box.

"You'd think with the added brain power boost, you'd figure out how to break into the box," Sara said. Cass and Nyssa gave Sara a very annoyed gaze. The woman didn't break underneath her gaze. "I'm not sure if….it doesn't look like anything I've ever seen."

"You'd know better than any of us," Harry said.

"Well, I'm not a computer geek by any means," Sara said.

"You live a less sheltered life than any of us do," Cass said.

Sara recalled what Cass, Nyssa, and Harry told her.

' _I'm really well adjusted compared to them. How fucked up, really?'_

A spark emitted from the device, and Harry frowned.

"So, are you going to give up?" Nyssa asked.

"I think we need more power," Harry said.

"More power, might…um…it could blow us up, maybe?" Sara asked.

"The three of you should leave the room, then," Harry said. "I'll call you back in if I need anything."

Cass and Nyssa rose to their feet, and stepped back. Sara stopped for a moment, and raised her eyebrow.

"You're really casual about getting blown up yourself. I mean no offense, but….I don't even know what to make….."

Harry placed a finger on Sara's mouth. Sara stopped and looked at him.

"Trust me, Sara, nothing is going to kill me. Master of Death, remember."

' _I hope you're right, because you're not dying on me.'_

Sara turned around and left the room, leaving Harry to do what he needed to do.

Harry frowned and turned the dials to amplify the power. He could blow himself up, but it wouldn't be the first time.

' _You do live dangerously, don't you, Potter?'_

Harry flipped a series of switches and the cube underneath him started to rattle. Good news, bad news, Harry couldn't quite determine what described a cube coming to life.

The cube started to blink. The odd upside down triangle formations blinked to life. A monotone, but obviously female, voice began to crack from underneath the cube.

"The Brain Interactive Construct Mark Eight Point Zero, codenamed Indigo is online. Unable to restore system. Enacting emergency protocols."

The cube fizzled and sizzled underneath Harry's grasp. He figured any more power would cause an Earth shattering Kaboom.

The cube glowed a bright purple color which almost blinded Harry. Sara, Cass, and Nyssa slipped inside the room.

The light beamed out of the skylight and followed a path in the sky. Harry waved his hand and kept the trail of light.

"We're going to follow the light, aren't we?" Cass asked.

"Yes," Harry said.

Nyssa frowned, and came to an interesting conclusion.

"I think the light's leading back to the island."

"So, do you want me to stay behind this time?" Sara asked.

Harry reached and placed his hand on Sara's shoulder. The warrior in training stepped half of a step back to look him over.

"No, Sara, not this time. You've learned about as much as you can from observation, it's time to take the training to the next level."

"I agree," Nyssa said.

"You don't have much choice, do you?" Sara asked.

"Maybe not, but it helps when I agree," Nyssa said. She touched the top of Sara's hand and smiled at her. "So, we're in this together."

"We shouldn't linger for too much longer," Harry said.

* * *

Back on the island, a figure scrambled into the cover of darkness. She held her head down.

"Great, I must have screwed them over really well, if they intend to kill me. Whatever they're doing, I don't care. Just want to get off of this island, and yesterday."

The figure dressed in a white tank top and a tattered pair of blue jeans. Her blonde hair pushed up in disarray, with a large cut on her cheek. Her features resulted from mixed races, her father white, her mother Asian.

The woman's hair came down from her ponytail and untidy blonde hair flowed over.

"Get her, she couldn't have gotten far."

The seventeen year old girl hitched in a breath.

' _Okay, if this is one of my father's tests, he really must have lost his mind, putting me on the island. Three years I've been on this fucking island. Didn't really have much of a problem, until….these bastards showed up.'_

She came close to salvaging enough to build a boat to get off of the island. Others crashed on the island.

' _And here I thought purgatory wasn't the hot vacation spot.'_

The woman lifted her head out of her hiding place. Another group of guards lead what appeared to be some kind of prisoner over.

"Good, the old man's going to have no choice, but to cooperate with us. Our time table needs to be moved up."

Much to the approval of the woman hidden in the bushes, the woman these goons trapped looked not being making their lives any either. The hood they placed her head made it very hard for her to escape.

A flash of light erupted from the distance and cut through the island. The troops looked up, the entire island lit up.

The girl made her move now. A makeshift bow, along with wooden arrows which she crafted allowed her to pick her shots wisely.

Shots picked wisely. The girl fired the first shot in the back of one of the troops. He fell down to the ground.

' _Shouldn't take your eye off of the ball.'_

The troops turned to her, and she backed off.

One of the troops stepped on a land mine she set up earlier.

"Don't move!"

The two other troops were too occupied with saving their buddy they didn't notice the arrows flying at them. The wood splintered into their throats, dropping them back to the down.

The archer rushed in, and pulled the woman out of their grasp. She cut the bindings and pulled the hood off.

The woman's hair flew in disarray. The dark haired female shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"Who are….."

"Another guest of the island, like you are, I'm sure," she said. "We've got to keep moving, they…"

The pair of women disappeared into the shadows. The woman kneeled down, right by a concealed rocket launcher.

"Okay, let's see if this thing works after I rewired it. One shot, better make it count."

The woman aimed the rocket launcher and picked her shot again. She fired a flaming ball of death at them.

' _The launcher's my bow, the fireball's my arrow, I don't think there's much of a different.'_

Debris flew, allowing the two women to escape into the night.

"They'll be after us again."

"I know."

The two of them disappeared into the shadows for a moment. Both kept a moment to catch their breath.

"So, what how did you end up on Lianyu?"

The blonde archer turned towards the other woman.

"Would you believe my Dad dropped me off on a father-daughter outing, and decided to leave without me?"

"I find it….how long have you been here?"

"Three of the most nerve racking years of my life, but at least I picked up a few tricks on the island," she said. "And we haven't been introduced."

"No, we haven't."

The two women stared each other down for a moment.

"Artemis," the blonde archer said.

"Shado."

Now properly acquainted, the two women waited. The footsteps indicated they needed to keep moving.

Artemis's eyes followed the beacon of light. Her curiosity got the better of them.

"To the left nine steps, twelve steps forward, and three steps to the right, and it's a straight climb up a hill until you reach a triangle of rocks, which you want to go to the right of," Artemis said. Shado looked at her. "I know the booby traps on the island like the back of my hand. For some reason, they keep resetting themselves after being set off."

"Someone must be resetting them," Shadow said.

"Either someone's resetting up, or they're resetting themselves by magic," Artemis said.

Her tone sounded a bit tone and in, but given all she experience, Shado wasn't about to discount her theory.

"Stop where you are, and don't make any sudden movements."

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen: Altercation.**

* * *

The hairs on Artemis's neck prickled. The archer kicked herself hard, mentally at least. Three years on the island allowed her to survive, and the moment she helped someone, this happened. Artemis heard the crumpling of leaves behind her. The men approached her from behind.

Shado shifted her gaze to Artemis. The younger women refused to make eye contact with the other women.

"Good, I guess you've got me," Artemis said.

The hot, putrid breath, of the goon, caught the back of Artemis's neck. Her hand tightened together. More leaves crinkled and the men pressed against her.

"You intervened in our plans."

"Seems to be a common thing, isn't it?" Artemis asked.

"Down on your knees!"

Artemis dropped to her knees, leaning her head to the ground. It had to be around here somewhere. She tried to allow herself a way to find the group.

"We should kill her for what she's done. She could have ruined our plans!"

Shado dipped to her knees right beside Artemis's side. The two women waited for the next move. The leader of the mercenary force failed to react.

A loud crack echoed around the island. Artemis averted her head to look up. A rough hand pushed her face down towards the ground.

"She's needed, your expendable!"

The archer's fingers stretched over. So close, but so far. She slid herself onto her knees for a moment.

One of the mercenaries gripped the back of her ponytail.

"Leave her alone. You want me, not her!"

Artemis turned her attention to Shado for the briefest of seconds. The mercenary whipped her off of the ground with a solid smack.

' _Good, you put me closer to my charge.'_

Another thunder crack echoed. A gust of wind rocked some of the trees on the island. The mercenaries stepped back, other than the two who guarded Artemis and Shado.

"Come on, you're not afraid of a little bit of rain, are you? You aren't sugar, you're not going to melt."

"I'm not afraid of melting….but do you see the skies? It's clear!"

Artemis brushed past the cover, and found the knot for the tree.

"STOP!"

Artemis's three second margin of error proved there's no room to miss. She hoisted a metallic, flashing object out of the ground. The object yanked out of the ground almost blistered her fingers.

"What are you….."

The object smashed into the chest of the goon. Artemis ducked, and rolled, yanking Shado out of the way. The archer utilized her body as a shield, getting a bullet in her shoulder.

The explosion knocked the mercenaries back. A cloud of acid sprayed two of the nearest ones.

"I didn't know it did….never mind," Artemis said. She turned herself around, picking up her bow and arrow. "Stand back."

Shado slid into the shadows, careful not to hit any of the traps.

Artemis crouched down on the ground, drawing back her bow. She slammed the device on the ground with an arrow. It resulted in another explosion, sending debris and rocks to launch back.

The archer winced and rushed into the distance. The charging of the merercenaries behind her resulted in her receiving more incentive for her to scramble as far away from the situation as she can.

"We need to find a way out of here," Shado said. She pulled back a hatch on the ground. "This way, quickly….."

"Go, I'll hold them off."

Artemis slumped against the tree. She looked delirious from the blood loss. Some of the mercenaries buried themselves in the rocks.

The crunching of rocks indicated some of them escaped being buried alive. The sounds of combat indicated someone else ran into the mercenaries.

' _This island's pretty crowded for being abandoned.'_

A firm grip grabbed onto her shoulder. Artemis jumped up in time to see Shado almost pull her away.

"I thought I told you, I'd….I'd hold them….."

Artemis's eyes faded over as she dropped to the ground. The mercenaries almost broke through, and she lost way too much blood to be of any help.

Through her delirious thoughts, a loud crack ripped through the air. The air ripped in half. The mercenaries looked up in time to see some dark shadow descend down upon them.

Artemis rose to her feet. The screams of despair coming from the men on the island sobered her up. The head pounding continued as the shadow took shape. It twisted a dragon made out of smoke with glowing red eyes and fierce fangs.

The mercenaries toppled to the ground. One tried to shoot at the dragon construct, but the bullets passed through. The men emptied an entire load into the dragon.

A spiked tail whipped around. The force of the breeze send slight stabbing pains through Artemis's body.

The stabbing pains entering her body paled in comparison to the stabbing pains going through the body of the mercenary. The mercenary's body slammed into the ground hard.

"I think we better go."

Artemis staggered to her feet, and almost collapsed.

"Don't step to three steps to the right, whatever you do."

Shado nodded. She needed to find her father. These mercenaries hunted her down in a relentless manner.

She stole one last gaze at the dragon, who vanished as suddenly as it appeared. The air retained a chill for a few more seconds.

Seconds which Shado determined not to be around for. She slipped into the hatch on the ground.

The pitter patter of footsteps indicated a secondary group arrived. Shado draped Artemis's arm over her shoulders and listened in closely for the mercenaries.

The pitter patter of footsteps moved beyond the tunnel. She listened for them. They went due South, so she decided to head North.

"I'm just dead weighting you," Artemis said.

"Don't worry," Shado said. The woman's legs dragged on the ground against him.

* * *

The darkness allowed Harry, Cass, Nyssa, and Sara a moderate amount of cover on the island. The shining beacon coming from Biyala to the island almost gave away their position.

"I think stealth is out the window," Nyssa said.

"Maybe," Cass said. "They know something's on this island."

Cass wrapped her fist around a sword. She prepared to attack anyone who went after her.

A scream from across the island caught Harry's attention. Sara stood up straight for a few seconds.

Two groups scrambled off North on the island. Harry motioned for his assassins to stand back, to guard him.

"When I give the signal, move."

Harry peered through the bushes, and noticed two women on the ground. The blonde looked like she been through a hell of a time on the island. The dark haired woman's gaze held a combination of fear and determination. The dirty blonde's gaze burned with determination, and she searched for something, at least from Harry's perspective.

He closed his eyes and manipulated the skies around him. The young man channeled energy through his body.

Energy weaved through Harry's body in an entirely new way. After acquiring the formula, Harry obtained a new connection with mystical energies. He tapped into the elements of nature.

Screwing up his face, Harry clenched his fist as hard as possible. A vortex swirled over the top of the island.

' _Can't quite get the storm clouds right.'_

The sky cracked as Harry's magic rippled through it. He noticed the mercenaries becoming distracted. The dirty-blonde unearthed an explosive device. Much chaos followed seconds later, especially since she reclaimed her bow and arrow, and fired several makeshift bolts.

Harry surveyed a potential new recruit from his vantage point from the shadows. The dirty-blonde dropped from a hit.

The ground beneath Harry started to rumble. The shadows wrapped around his form. The sorcerer performed steady manipulation as the shadows weaved around him like threads.

Harry's mind locked onto the shadows. A form appeared behind him. Harry recalled his fourth year at Hogwarts, how vicious and violent the Hungarian Horntail he fought ended up being. One of the most dangerous dragons of all, and from what Harry found out, the handlers subdued it.

No one planned to subdue Harry. The shadows manifested around him. The young man controlled the shadow dragon like an advanced Patronus.

The dragon descended upon the mercenaries. Many of the mercenaries slid back. One stumbled and landed ass first onto a land mine to cause a very gruesome ending for him.

The claws of the dragon reared and forced the mercenaries back.

"What the hell are you?"

The man pulled out a rifle and began to fire. The bullet disintegrated, and the shadows converted it into more energy, causing the dragon to expand in size. Its fangs grew and expanded.

' _Definition of insanity, redoubling your obviously failed effort, thinking you're going to get different results.'_

The mercenary reloaded and kept firing. A barrage of bullets sailed through the air. All of the bullets converted into dark energy, and swelled the size of Harry's dragon.

' _Making the job so much easier on me.'_

The dragon's tail whipped and cracked into the mercenary. Harry stopped the dragon short of slicing the fool in half. Pretty much every single bone in his body shattered, and several cuts opened in his flesh.

The feral connection to the beast flooded through Harry's body. The blood lust burned, but Harry pulled himself back.

He smiled for a second, content for what he did. Harry noticed the two girls slipped away. He decided to help them.

A wave of the hand created two shadow duplicates which scrambled into the opposite direction. The mercenaries followed the duplicates, and not the women who left.

"I think we better keep moving."

Sara, Cass, and Nyssa followed Harry. All three girls looked on with widened mouths and even wider eyes.

"I can't believe it," Cass said.

Harry motioned for them to take a right turn. It moved them around the corner, and Harry stopped.

"Shadow manipulation," Cass said.

"Yes," Harry said.

"Did you know you could manipulate shadows like you did?" Cass asked.

"You never know what you're completely capable of until you try," Harry said.

Harry drew in a deep breath and channeled his own energy out of him, and back into him to heal up the fatigue he suffered. Warmth spread from the tip of his fingers, to the balls of his feet, and all the way through his body.

Cass, Sara, and Nyssa experienced the release of Harry's energy.

"Oh, did you feel it?" Sara asked.

"Sorry, it's Tantric energy, it's going to have some kind of backlash," Harry said.

"You mean, sex magic?" Sara asked.

"In laymen's terms, yes," Harry said. "I'm sure Cass told you how my powers increase through the power of intercourse."

Sara called the particular lecture. Cass's gaze flickered over Sara's face, and warned her not to say anything which might get her in trouble.

"So, how many girls do you have to sleep with before you qualify for godhood?"

"Are you under the assumption Harry isn't already there?" Nyssa asked.

The power he channeled through the air to create the dragon entity explained so very much about Harry's potential.

"Not quite yet, but I'm sure if I gather enough women, I'll be there soon," Harry said. "Speaking of women, our two captives on the island got away. We're going to have to see what their story is."

The four of them continued the trek through the darkness. The sounds of explosions and combat only gripped Harry's attention partially. Not close, so Harry pressed off.

He frowned and noticed a panel carved into one of the trees. The jagged edges of the panel stuck out like a sore thumb. Harry pressed his finger against it.

The panel activated, and an alarm almost started to sound. Or it would, if Harry didn't stop the panel from giving away their location.

"The HIVE's here," Cass said.

"They're everywhere," Nyssa said. "I should have known they'd have operations on Lian Yu."

Harry tracked back the signal pulsing from the honeycomb. The young man realized something.

"And we're going to have to cross the HIVE outpost to get to the source of the beacon."

Sara tightened her grip against the weapon in her hand. The girl hitched in a deep breath.

"Suppose we wanted to avoid this sort of thing?" she asked.

"Well, what I want to do, and what happens don't line up all of the time," Harry said. "We're going to have to head into the outpost, and find….whatever is on the other side."

Harry sensed the energy coming from the craft which the box activated. The box almost screamed in distress at Harry.

The tension sliced through Harry's skin like a well-placed knife. He turned to Cass, Nyssa, and Sara. The four of them working together would have to do.

On the one hand, a smaller group allowed for less people to give up their location. On the other hand, a smaller group of people needed to fight harder against overwhelming odds.

Harry prepared to utilize the best of the best and these people were the best of the best. He, Cass, Sara, and Nyssa surrounded around the barrier in the outpost.

His direction turned in Sara's direction. The woman's eyes shifted over to him.

"So do you have the prototype?"

"Yes," Sara said. "What do you want me to do with it?"

Harry listened in. The mercenaries moved to another part of the island, which meant they only had to deal with the HIVE drones.

"Deploy it at the moment of truth. It should bring the HIVE down to their knees, at least for a little bit. But considering it's a prototype and we haven't fine-tuned it, make your shots count."

Harry modified one of the inventions on Ivo's ship, thinking it would be good to be utilized as a weapon.

* * *

Rose rolled over in her bed. Her body ached a little bit. It took the girl a few seconds to realize she woke up for a few seconds.

Her mother sat perched on a chair. Rose raised up on the balls of her elbows and leaned to her mother. Her chest inhaled and exhaled for a moment. Rose rolled over for a second and collapsed back onto the bed.

"How are you feeling, Rose?"

Adeline's voice cut through the air. Rose's gaze turned to her mother.

"I'm fine…I'm not sick any more. I am really hungry."

Adeline smiled and disappeared into the next room to get her daughter something to eat. The woman returned with a miniature feast.

"Thank you," Rose said.

"It's not a problem," Adeline said. "For a little bit, I thought…..well it doesn't matter what I thought, does it?"

Adeline took a moment to survey her daughter. No side effects from the formula, at least at this moment. Rose took the huge dinner.

"You want to eat something light, to make sure your stomach can handle it?"

"I've been eating light soup and crackers for my entire life," Rose said.

The teenage girl scowled at Adeline. Adeline placed the hot soup in front of Rose.

"Hence the reason why we should build you up for other dishes. I've been around prisoners who have survived war camps, and…."

"I should be one hundred percent fit," Rose said. Adeline raised her eyebrow. Rose took the food and ate it. The soup didn't taste half bad, most certainly far better than what Ivo ate. "Please tell me you didn't cook this."

"Yes, because I'd poison my own daughter with my cooking after she's gotten better."

Rose smiled in response, at her mother's attempts to lighten up the mood. She took another swallow of the food. The sensations caused her taste buds to preserve.

"Harry figured you'd need something to eat, so he fixed this for you for when you woke up. And you're awake, on schedule."

"Good," Rose said. She took a buttered sliced of bread and slowly ate it. More of her strength returned, even beyond the chemical pumping through her vein. "Where's Harry?"

"Harry's on a mission."

Rose's body stiffened up like a board. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Something struck her like a lightning bolt.

Adeline stood bolt upright. She leaned to her daughter.

"Rose, Rose, speak to me!"

Rose's eyes flashed to a painstaking degree. It looked like someone tormented her. Adeline waved her hand in front of her daughter's face.

Adeline rose to her feet, in an attempt to reach someone. Rose grabbed her hand. The grip of her daughter almost could break bones.

"Rose, you need to snap out of it!"

Rose snapped out of it. She noticed the grip around her mother's hand. The bones crushed in Rose's hand the second she collapsed on the bed. Rose started to hitch in a few breaths.

"I don't know what came over me," Rose said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to….I didn't mean."

Adeline leaned down to her mother. Her fingers weren't broken, just bruised.

"I saw….something awful," Rose said. "I saw my father…..you know, Slade."

"Your father, is Slade….is he alive?" Adeline asked.

"He's a tormented soul, although he doesn't know it, yet," Rose said. "All he needs is the right….push to knock him over the edge."

Rose climbed out of the bed. She wore nothing, but an overlong nightshirt. The sixteen year old girl made her way to a trunk and rummaged for his clothes.

"Harry and the others are going to be in the middle of this….the HIVE is on the island, and Slade's their target."

"Why would Slade be their target?" Adeline asked.

Rose placed a hand on her temple and pushed it in. She closed her eyes, groaning as thoughts cranked in her mind.

"I don't know….I don't have a clue….but he is, he's their target, I don't know why, but he is."

Adeline placed her hand on Rose's shoulder.

"Calm down, Rose, we'll figure this out."

Rage swelled up in Rose's body, as Adeline told her to be calm. The formula coupled with teenage hormones caused a maelstrom of emotions to bubble in the back of her mind.

"Calm down, honey, we'll figure this all out, and we'll do it together. You'll see."

Rose collapsed down onto the bed.

Adeline understood there would be side effects and delusions. Rose's issues regarding being abandoned, coupled with her gift caused her to hallucination about her father.

"I'm not even sure if it's real," Rose said. "Harry warned us what might happened….but he seems….he seemed to turn out fine. He tested it on himself."

Adeline offered Rose something else to eat. The girl took it with gratitude and started to eat it. Her mind cleared a little bit more now the proper fuel filled her body.

"If Harry runs into anything, he can handle it," Adeline said. "You know….."

"Yes, I know, he can handle anything," Rose said.

Rose swayed back and forth in a rocking motion without really doing it. She closed her eyes, and saw the deranged form of her father standing over several people. A blade soaked in blood dripped.

' _Why have you done this?'_

' _I only do it out of love. I do this to help you…but I need to rescue you, because you're very sick. Good night, my precious Rose. Daddy loves you.'_

' _DAD NO!'_

"Rose?" Adeline asked.

"I think I've got a headache," Rose said.

Adeline nodded. When Harry returned, some tests would need to be run on Rose, to see how the formula affected her.

* * *

Edward Fiers considered talking to his benefactor, and cutting the entire mission short. He sensed he entered the middle of something really dangerous and beyond all conventional explanation.

"You must have been poisoned by something," Fiers said. "You need to lie down."

The man he talked to resembled a gentlemen who would have never slept again. The man started to wave his hands around and terror flashed through his eyes. His heart started to beat to the point where his chest clenched.

"No, no, it's a dragon made out of smoke!"

Fiers turned to the other mercenaries. Two of them threw their hands back.

"It must have been an hallucination."

"Not a hallucination, but a warning."

Fiers's slowly turned his head. The man's discretion ended the second a group of individuals dressed in business suits entered the island.

"For an abandoned island, there's a far too many members to this party," Fiers said.

"We had an outpost on this island long before you showed up, Fiers," one of the men said.

Fiers placed himself behind his mercenaries. Several individuals dressed in golden armor which made them resemble walking honey combs stepped in front of the mercenaries.

"There's no need for a fire fight," one of the businessmen said. "We represent the HIVE."

"Oh, you do?" Fiers asked.

"I wouldn't call your employer….you'll be dead the second you finish dialing the number," the HIVE leader said. "Our ranks have been diminished over the past few months, and you've encountered a few roadblocks."

"Nothing my men aren't getting under control," Fiers said.

The outlandish reports his men brought before him about this dragon stirred the pot a bit more than he said. Bad enough a wild playboy washed onto the island, and inconvenienced him by being a subject to his operations.

"The HIVE wishes to inform you, you've been targeted by the League of Assassins. An ancient order of terrorists which wish to destroy the world."

"I've been around long enough to know a terrorist is often a codework for any group of people who don't fit to the agenda of a certain party or group," Fiers said.

The HIVE leader stepped in front of his drones.

"I've stepped into the light, I offer you to do the same, Mr. Fiers in the name of transparency."

The man spoke in a refined accent. The man motioned for his mercenaries to step back, and he did.

"I will inform you at the start, everything you assume is going to happen will not come in pass. It's because Ra's Al Ghul unearthed the Dragon."

Fiers scoffed at the words. The man leaned forward and his frown sharpened at one look for these brightly dressed men.

"The Dragon?"

"Yes, the Dragon," he said. "An ancient warrior which is more powerful than anyone else, who can take on the shape and form of a dragon. It's a legend which many take seriously, and there is proof he exists. He has mastered death."

"Mastered death?" Fiers asked. "Well, it seems like with each fact you tell me, this delves further into the realm of fantasy land, and further away from reality."

"You don't believe me?" the HIVE drone asked.

"I believe there's a problem on this island," Fiers said. "Someone is using hallucination drugs to stir up the minds of the people on the island. And as such, they've altered your perception."

The HIVE leader's gaze locked onto the eyes of the man on the island.

"Believe what you wish to believe, but you understand we have a common enemy at the very least?"

"Yes, there's a problem," Fiers said. "What do you propose we do about it?"

The HIVE leader snapped his finger. Two of the drones carried in a crate. The crate settled down on the ground.

"A gift to cement our new partnership."

Fiers motioned for two of his men to step around and grab onto the crate. They checked to make sure it wasn't rigged to explode.

The moment the crate opened, the glint of several high tech weapons filled their eyes. Some of the mercenaries' face broke out into excitement. A couple of them exchanged scowls with each other.

"How are we supposed to work these things?"

The HIVE drone waved his finger for a moment. The weapon lifted off of the ground and entered his hand. A lock appeared around his finger.

"With these weapons, you don't have worry about dropping them, for they never leave your hand. Just think about what you want to accomplish, and you'll do so."

To demonstrate, the HIVE goon's arm pointed to the direction of a rather jagged section of rocks. His finger pushed the trigger and an intense blast of light fired from the weapon.

The explosion followed seconds later with fragments of rock spraying in every single direction.

"Easy to work, because the weapon does most of the work for the user."

"It makes me wonder why you even have people firing weapons in the first place," Fiers said. "I know such high tech toys don't come without a price."

The HIVE leader pointed to the flash of light. Since the sun rose, the light turned less visible, but it still could be seen if you know where to look.

"We want what's buried underneath the island. Clear you men out after your business is completed."

Fiers extended his hand to the HIVE leader. The two of them locked hands, forming the spark for an unholy alliance.

"Believe me, I don't wish to be in Purgatory any longer than I have to."

* * *

Shado continued the patchwork on Artemis's wounds. They had more than a few seconds to breath and to talk.

"Three years on the island, and I almost get killed out there," Artemis said. "Guess, law of average's was bound to catch up with me sooner or later. Those nutcases on the island, they're after something."

"My father's here," Shado said. "They've….I don't want what they're doing."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. She thought Shado knew a bit more than she let on, but….Artemis didn't care. The woman patched her up from her wounds. Her work allowed Artemis to get up and continued to get the fight.

Even if it looked like an unfortunate reality someone cursed this island and escape proved to be nearly impossible.

Someone stepped on a stack of twigs from outside of their hiding spot. Artemis rose to her feet and picked up her bow and arrow.

"I set up a primitive alarm system," Shado said. "It gives us advanced warning."

"Only one," Artemis said. "Good, shouldn't be too hard to take him out."

A dirty looking youth stumbled through the entrances. An arrow fired out of the shadows and impaled him right in the knee.

Artemis rushed in and kicked him straight in the chest, doubling him over.

"Okay, you better start coughing up information, or the next one is going to be in your heart," Artemis said.

"Please….I don't….I need a place…help….my name is Oliver Queen."

"A name which means nothing to me," Artemis said. She loaded another arrow. "Are you working for Fiers?"

"No, I'm running from him….I want to find a way off of this island," the young man said.

"Oh, you want to find a way off of the island? I think half of the people on this island don't want to be here."

Artemis lowered her bow for a brief second, but did not lower her guard. Someone else made his way to the door.

"Kid, I swear, I need to put a leash on you."

Artemis lifted her bow and pointed it towards a man. The man's dark hair looked a bit ragged, although more respectable than Oliver Queen's. His physique looked to be one of someone who worked out.

The young archer took a step back, mouth hanging open. It took a couple of seconds for her brain to kick in, but she recognized the gentlemen in question in an instant.

"Slade Wilson?"

"Artemis, well…it's been a long time, hasn't it?" Slade asked. "Tell me, is your father…"

"I don't talk about him," Artemis said.

"Still a punk trying to be worthwhile," Slade said. "Good old Larry, he thinks he's top notch, but with his gimmick, he can't get out of the minor leagues. Guy is pretty dangerous when he wants to be, though, but….."

"What are you doing here?" Artemis asked.

"Blunt as your mother is, and your sister," Slade said.

Artemis closed her eyes. Her mother laid up in the hospital and her sister….well her sister got out when she turned eighteen. Months before her father dropped Artemis on the island, and told her he'd be back when she turned eighteen, if she still lived long enough.

"Actually, there's quite the interesting tale in…."

Slade stopped for a moment. He turned to the group. Two of them were wounded, which made it hard to move for long.

Four garbed figures made their way into the bunker. They dressed in gear which resembled the assassins of lore. One of them carried an elegant blade, more elegant than anything Slade, or any of the others had seen.

"You better move," the leader of the group said.

"We better move?" Slade asked. "And you're another group of Fiers mercenaries."

"We work for Fiers? Don't insult us."

"This part of the island, is now property of the League of Assassins," the leader said. "We'll help you find shelter where the HIVE or Fiers will not find you, but you need to vacate."

Oliver groaned. One of the assassins stared at him.

"I shot him in the arrow with a knee," Artemis said.

"It's more than you shooting me in the knee," Oliver said. He groaned. "I think something poisoned me."

"Did you eat something which didn't agree with you?" one of the members of the League asked.

Her voice sounded oddly cool to Oliver. To the point where Oliver assumed he'd catch frostbite just by listening to it.

The leader performed some kind of voodoo with his hands. He stepped back.

"He's been poisoned, but he'll survive…..if he receives the proper treatment."

"Well, what's the proper treatment?" Shado asked.

One of the assassins reached to the clasp of her bag. A moment of hesitation followed, but the leader nodded. She withdrew a vial containing a clear fluid.

"Take this."

"What is it?" Oliver asked.

"Take it if you wish to live," the assassin said.

Oliver took the crystal vial in his hand. He took it in his mouth. Seconds later, his face contorted into a disgusted expression.

"What the hell did you give me?"

"I told you, something to heal you," the assassin said.

"It tasted terrible," Oliver said.

"Well, it isn't supposed to be a taste for your enjoyment, it's supposed to help heal you," the assassin said. "And you're feeling a little bit better aren't you?"

"I can feel the stabbing pain of an arrow in my knee," Oliver said. "But, yes, I don't feel delirious anymore."

"Ah, I bet you were a joy at the doctor's office," Artemis said. She turned around. "Someone's coming, aren't they?"

"The HIVE…I know you know about them," the leader said.

Artemis raised her eyebrow.

"Enough," Artemis said. "I know enough about them where I don't like them or anything they stand for."

"This island is getting a bit too crowding for my liking," Slade said.

"Well, we agree on as much," the leader said. "They're going to find us, and find you. I suggest we take the fight to them."

"I'm going with you, if you're taking the fight to them," Shado said.

"Don't count me out of it," Artemis said. "Those HIVE bastards and those mercenaries….I want a piece of them."

"Someone needs to babysit him," one of the assassins remarked.

"Got a point there," Slade said.

Oliver rose up from his position to begin to protest.

"I can take care of myself just fine. You never…."

"With training, you might be able to, but we don't have time," the leader of the League said. "But, if you want to go out there and get yourself murdered, so be it. I'd think you'd been on the island long enough to gain the survival skills of at least a common beast."

"So, wait ,you're really going to make me stay down here, and babysit him?" Artemis asked. "Even if I did, I'm kind of banged up."

"You did well enough by shooting me with an arrow, which still hurts," Oliver said.

"Yes, well, it wasn't like you were all threatening on the account of you stumbling around like a drunken buffoon," Artemis said.

"You could use a boost," the leader said. "Come here."

Artemis stepped towards him.

"I patched her up the best I could, but….." Shado said.

"And you did a remarkable job, but sometimes wounds like hers require a more dedicated touch."

The leader of the assassins touched his hands on Artemis's shoulders. A wave of energy flowed through his hands into her. The energy resulted in a feedback loop which caused her body to heat up.

"Well, it didn't feel unpleasant," Artemis said.

"Do you feel better?"

"I feel great, I feel awesome," Artemis said. "I feel like I'd be better off fighting those mercenaries than playing billionaire babysitter."

"Don't worry, I'll make it up to you," the young man said.

"Hope you do," Artemis said. "Given you're skilled with your hands….well I'd like to see what else you could do with it."

"Yes, now you've got a date for Saturday night, could we please move on?" Slade asked.

"They have my father…..his name is Yao Fei," Shado said.

"Your father is Yao Fei?" Oliver asked. "He…he found me, and then….it's complicated."

"I'm sure we'll have time to go over your whole backstory later," the leader said. "We need to keep moving….stay here, both of you."

Artemis grumbled a little bit more as the group disappeared into the shadows, leaving her alone with a mostly useless young man.

"You know, you don't have to act like I'm a troll," Oliver said. "If anyone should be upset about this arrangement, it should be me. You shot me in the knee with an arrow."

"Sorry about shooting you in the knee," Artemis said.

Oliver blinked, he didn't really expect an apology.

"I should have shot you in the face."

* * *

The silence on the island put Harry Potter on the edge. The assassins, and the two guest party members of their group walked towards them.

"The HIVE, I swear, they're everywhere," Sara said, only to Harry, Nyssa, and Cass.

"Yes, cut one head off and two more grow in their place," Harry said.

"I think you may be confusing the HIVE for someone else," Nyssa said.

The entire group fixated on the light beacon. Harry approached closer with a smile on his face.

"Whatever shot out the beacon is far underground," Harry said. "We're going to have to get it out."

Harry sensed the object, whatever it was calling to him. The beacon continued to flare in an erratic manner.

"It's too easy," Cass said.

"I agree," Harry said.

Sara took it as her cue. She looked at the rest of the group.

"I'd suggest you cover your ears."

The assassin in training pressed the button on a prototype. A super-sonic cry echoed from the grenade.

The cloaking fields around several HIVE goons fell to the ground. They dropped from their perch points. A couple of them threw up because of the sonic pulses cracking into their heads.

The device heated up and forced Sara to launch it into the air. It still packed a punch when it exploded, knocking out several HIVE goons in the process.

"An interesting parlor trick, but it's time for the professionals to take over."

Fiers arrived with his mercenaries. The mercenaries packed high tech weapons.

"Well, Yao Fei's daughter, this plays into our plans quite nicely," Fiers said. "It's annoying the Queen boy got away, but….we're going to have to make adieu. I have a task force of dozens of men, and there are only six of you."

"Seems like pretty fair odds to me," the leader said.

The sword of Gryffindor clenched in Harry's hand. At the moment of truth he would…..

A super-sonic bang echoed from other them on the island. A high wind kicked up above their heads.

Harry paused, and looked at the sword. The magic turned inert. Which meant the magic didn't come from the sword.

"What are you doing now?" Nyssa asked.

"Not me this time," Harry said.

A super powered vortex hoisted several of the mercenaries off of the ground. They flew in several directions. Their bones shattered as they hit the ground.

Harry peered into the wind or dust. He noticed a blur flying at a super-sonic speed. He tried to slow down the blur in his mind.

The blur vanished off into the opposite direct, and disappeared towards the beacon. Harry noticed a brief hint of blonde hair as the blur of light moved off faster than a speeding bullet.

He knew power when he saw it.

Fiers tried to lift himself off of the ground, but Harry kicked the gun away from him. The blade of Gryffindor stuck at his throat.

"You can kill me, because I'll never break my contract to tell you anything," Fiers said.

"Noble, but stupid," Harry said. "I don't need for you to talk to get the information from you."

Several black strands shot from Harry's hand and impaled themselves into the man's skull. He screamed as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

Harry withdrew the process, leaving Fiers nothing but a drooling mess. Seconds later, he brought the sword down to put the man out of his misery.

"I know what his plan is….and it's not over yet."

"He's real," Shado said, breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?" Sara asked.

"The Dragon," Shado said.

"Real and dangerous," Slade said.

Such power put Slade on edge, and made him look at the leader of the League of Assassins with great trepidation.

Harry had the rest of the HIVE on the island to deal with, any wild mercenaries, oh, and his mysterious blonde blur who vanished without a trace.

' _Never a dull moment.'_

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty: Unveiling.**

* * *

The HIVE base in the dead center of the island caused Harry a fair bit of tension. The tension rose for a moment when he looked around to the left, to the right.

"It's empty," Slade said.

"Yes, it's empty," Harry said. "They couldn't have all vanished into thin air."

"What if they did?" Sara asked.

Harry considered the woman's question for a couple of moments. He turned around towards her and his shoulders rose in a momentary shrug.

"You know, stranger things have happened," Harry said. His gaze lingered on the island for a couple of moments. The HIVE base presented a few interesting issues, as far as he could tell at least. "Okay, stay focused."

"I didn't know you were put in charge when my back was turned," Slade said.

"I'd trust his instincts if I were you," Nyssa said. "Bad things happen when you defy him."

"Yes, because I feel comfortable working with someone who ripped the information out of the mind of a person," Slade said.

"Cold blooded torture isn't much better, Mr. Wilson," Harry said. "In your line of work, you've performed a few dubious methods to get the information you need, haven't you?"

Slade's mouth remained shut. While the young man's point proved to be sound, there were certain lines he didn't cross even in his line of work.

"Well, what are you looking for?" Slade asked.

"We'll know when we find it," Harry said. "With Fiers out of the way, the HIVE is the only obstacle on the island."

"Did you…did you find out where my father is?" Shado asked.

"He slipped away, according to Fiers," Harry said.

Shado's shoulders slumped for a moment. She looked around the shadows, as if expecting some kind of mercenary to step out.

The further Harry stepped into the HIVE camp, scanning for traps all the way, the further the humming from whatever was buried underneath lead him there.

Harry noticed something shine in the light. Whatever signaled him buried underneath the ground.

"I'm going in," Harry said. "Keep an eye on them."

Cass, Nyssa, and Sara all nodded in response. They watched the heir to the Demon cross the pathway for a moment.

The young man stopped for a second. Some kind of alarm triggered, but it wasn't due to his own doing. Something…..

BOOM!

Harry flew halfway across the island, landing onto the ground. His jaw throbbed from the impact of whatever hit him.

"What the hell?" Slade asked.

His eyes didn't deceive him. The same mysterious blur which took out Fiers and his men flew around at the speed of light.

Harry tried to get a lock on his attacker. Magic could only go at the speed of light, and this individual was faster.

A loud sonic boom echoed and she darted off, beyond the island for a couple of seconds.

Nyssa rushed over to stand next to Harry. She turned him around to the side a little bit.

"So are you okay?" Nyssa asked him.

"A little bit," Harry said. "I didn't expect what hit me, to hit me."

"She's fast," Sara said.

"Are we certain it's a she?" Cass asked.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure….I saw her for a second," Sara said. "I can't explain it, but she's about as confused as we are….I think whatever set off the beacon attracted her."

"Well, we know it's a female, comforting," Slade said. "Do any of you have any idea what it is?"

Slade encountered a few things which were out of this world, and the man's suspicion this particular individual was out of this world hit a nasty height. Talk about a rabbit hole he didn't want to travel in at all.

"It's suspicious the HIVE left the area," Slade said. "If I know them, they're up to something….they wouldn't have left this place, unless they needed insurance of some kind."

Slade decided to go off after his lead. Nyssa turned to Harry.

"Are you going to let him leave?" Nyssa asked.

"Well, do I really have any choice?" Harry asked. "He's going to go where he wants to anyway….he might be a problem later."

"I think he's uneasy around someone of your power," Shado said. The Dragon's eyes flickered onto hers. "Most people would be….most men would be."

"Yes, most men are," Harry said. "But, it's not my problem, it's there's. Should I step back to allow them false self-esteem?"

"It would be an insult to your abilities," Sara said.

"Exactly," Harry said. "But, we can't worry about….well we have other things to worry about to be honest."

Harry looked up into the sky. After the close encounter of the blur kind, she didn't return. Harry rubbed his jaw for a moment.

"You're fine, aren't you?" Shado asked.

"I've been hit harder," Harry said.

Harry sensed power coming from this mysterious female. He wanted to investigate the matter more closely in the future.

* * *

Artemis arched her neck. The lack of combat sounds eased her disappointment she stood down here babysitting some shipwrecked playboy.

"They've been out there for a long time," Artemis said.

"Hopefully they can find a way off the island," Oliver said. "I shouldn't even be here."

"I shouldn't either, but it's not my fault, it's not your fault either," Artemis said. "At least for all I know….my father dropped me off on the island when I was fourteen, for the final stages of my training. If I survived until I turn eighteen, I passed. If I don't….well, I failed one of his stupid tests big time."

"Your father….I can't believe this," Oliver said.

"You can believe what you want, but not all family relationships are as tight knit as yours," Artemis said.

"And what makes you think….."

"A problem to you is having your credit card cut off," Artemis said. "A problem for me is getting my arm broken because I didn't react fast enough in training. My father's a bastard, plain and simple."

"He sounds like one," Oliver said. "My father….he shot himself so I could live."

"Good, you have a good man for a father," Artemis said. "My father would put a bullet in his head."

"He gave me this before he died," Oliver said. He pulled out a notepad. "I'm not sure why….but he says it explains everything which is wrong in the world. All of the corruption back home."

"And you think you're going to go on a one way crusade to save the world," Artemis said. "I don't even want to know what kind of problems a one percenter like you thinks is a real issue."

Artemis didn't want to think about it. She looked over the notebook and noticed a few names. The woman snatched the notepad from Oliver's hand and flipped through it.

"My father's name isn't on here, therefore your list is flawed," Artemis said.

"How can you…..?"

"I'm sure there's some bad people on this last, but….what are you going to do?" Artemis asked.

"I don't know," Oliver said. "I don't know what my father was thinking, he wasn't….well when he died."

"Yes, I figured," Artemis said. "Pinning the hopes on you. Can you even fight? And no, getting in a scrap with one of your one percenters over a girl doesn't count."

A sour expression went over Oliver's face.

"You want to be out there, fighting, don't you?"

"After I've been fighting for my life for three years, while you've been living it up in your Ivy League tower, what do you think?" Artemis asked.

"How did you do it?" Oliver asked. "I mean, learn to shoot an arrow, like you did."

"Well, it's all in the wrist," Artemis said. "You have to be accurate and quick at the same time. No room for hesitation. You can wipe out more enemies, but if you take a breath, or run low on arrows….which I am."

Artemis almost cursed herself.

"I used my last arrow on you," Artemis said.

"I feel very blessed," Oliver said. "Well, we should be safe down here. I mean, what could happen?"

Artemis turned around and footsteps and voices could be heard around them. The woman's eyes snapped around.

"Just had to say something," Artemis said.

"Fine, I'm sick of running," Oliver said.

Artemis would have chuckled in amusement.

' _Bless his heart, he's actually growing a set,'_ Artemis thought. _'Can't fault him for too much for actually surviving on the island for this long. I would have pegged someone of his background dead in about a week.'_

Artemis looked over her shoulder. The tension rose over her body. Shivers rolled down her spne.

"Stay put."

"But…."

"I'm not telling you again," Artemis said. "It might not be anything."

Artemis knew better than to hope more than some idle words.

' _Without my gear, I feel naked, and not in the fun….'_

Boom! Artemis jerked out of her thoughts. Someone decided to try and break on through.

Artemis gathered up as many sharp sticks she could find on the ground. They would have to do, because honestly whatever choice did she have.

' _Okay pick your shots, and pick them wisely. You might have another one.'_

She aimed the makeshift arrow at her enemy. She hit him dead on the moment he got inside the door.

"Get around from the other side, collapse this place if necessary! We need to ensure no one is able to stop the HIVE."

' _Collapse the place if necessary, not good,'_ Artemis thought.

Oliver staggered to his feet. He collapsed down an instant. The young man's knee failed to heal.

Artemis waited for them to try and sneak in an alternate entrance. She kept twisting her head around in an attempt to locate the source of where they got in. She wished she had about a million more sets of eyes.

One of the HIVE drones propelled through the window. He landed down onto the ground. The sounds of fighting continued. Artemis left her sanctuary.

She fired an arrow at one of them, catching them in the back of the leg. The drones threw down with Slade.

"He's inside, isn't he?" Slade asked.

"Yeah, he is," Artemis said. "Another group of them, they went down another tunnel, they're going to collapse the place."

"Leave him to me," Slade said. He detonated an explosive device which took down the gaggle of goons.

Slade disappeared into the tunnel. Several seconds passed, and Artemis heard a tussle from inside the safehouse.

Artemis stepped over the fallen bodies. Would more be on the way? She looked up into the sky.

Was it a bird, was it a plane? She didn't know, but something flickered in the sky above her.

' _Okay, it's been a long time, I should go in.'_

An explosion forced Artemis to retreat. She threw herself out of the way, and the safe house her and Oliver formerly holed up in collapsed to the ground.

"Oh my god," Artemis said.

Fires shot up from above the ground, which prevented her from going down after them. The woman's breathing escalated as she peered down.

She staggered when more flames shot away. A pair of hands grabbed her and pulled her out of the way before a fireball bombarded out and struck her.

Artemis barely was able to blink when she ended up across the island, near the HIVE outpost. The beacon blinking inwards indicated she loomed close.

The teenager noticed something in the bush. A quiver stocked full of arrows. Someone must have dropped it earlier.

' _Well, Christmas came early.'_

* * *

A figure dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans collapsed on her knees. She shook her head and wondered what the hell happened.

The blonde pieced together everything in her mind the best she could. Weirdness with her powers happened before, but this weirdness took the cake and then a little more. The woman brushed her hair out of her eyes.

' _What happened to me?'_

A good question pounded the back of her head. The last thing she recalled she stood in the middle of her kitchen. Then some splitting siren bombarded her mind.

Seconds later, she ended up on this mysterious island, without any way to get home. Some force controlled her body, but how and why?

The beacon drew her to this place like a moth to the flame. It wasn't until the last few seconds where she managed to block it out enough to get her wits about herself. The woman brushed her fingers through her blonde hair, to flip it back through her face. A long sigh occurred as she threw her head back.

' _What the hell is happening to me?'_

This particular thought entered her mind. It didn't just enter her mind, but it refused to leave her alone. The thought bombarded her head and taunted her thoughts with increased frequency.

The squealing coming from this island stopped. It had brought her hear for a reason.

She slumped forward on the island. The teenager went from having more energy than she knew what to do with to having absolutely no energy at all, without a clue as to why this happened. Only it happened.

Kara struggled to a standing position and collapsed on the island for a second. The sound of voices prompted her to get up to her feet.

She managed to hover out of sight, peering through the trees. The shining light, belonging to the thing which summoned her, taunted her from afar.

Temptation visited Kara. Did she want to take the plunge? Did she want to fly after the device? A few thoughts crept into her mind, and she struggled to keep her head above the water for the next few seconds.

' _Got to find out where I am, and have to return home.'_

Kara shook her head. Images bombarded her head of crystalized towers falling around her. Her head snapped for a second. The hours before she crashed to earth echoed in her mind. Memories she blocked from her mind, at least for the most part.

In Kara's mind eyes, images of a powerful emerald eyed young man entered for a moment. Her body shuddered.

' _Why, I have never met him in my life?'_

The sounds of an explosion brought Kara out of her trance. The screams of agony picked up on her super hearing.

In the distance, she spotted a horrified woman, maybe a few years within her age, standing nearby. Kara slowed down the explosion in mind.

Bolting in faster than a speeding bullet, the alien teenager plucked the woman away from the explosion and darted her halfway across the island.

Before the woman could turn around, Kara disappeared into the night. She prepared to make the long trek back home, but the humming continued to call back to her.

' _Got to fight it,'_ Kara thought.

Kara attacked everyone who came close to the ship in an attempt to protect it.

' _Soon, your paths will cross. It is written.'_

Kara shook her head again. She struggled to keep her head up and stared forward. The trek from the center of the island proved to be a much longer journey they possible.

The second Kara reached the edge, a field struck her, blocking her from leaving the island.

She punched the field, but it ripped back against her. Someone, or something put up an energy field, trapping her on the island. Kara doubled around in an attempt to find a way off of the island.

The young woman shook her head, in a vain attempt to clear the cobwebs. The ringing continued to escalate through her head for a couple of seconds.

' _Not good.'_

She thought she spoke the obvious. Also, Kara struggled to avoid the compulsion to head back to the alien ship on the island.

* * *

Harry raised his hands. Now was the moment of truth. The ground beneath him rocked back and forth.

Given the entire island didn't start to cave into the ocean, Harry figured it was a good sign what he was doing.

Nyssa, Shado, Cass, and Sara all waited in the background. Waiting for Harry to succeed, or him to fail.

Harry never intended to fail. He started to rock the ship, and something began to crack out of the ground.

Energy hissed around him for a few seconds. Harry peaked over his shoulder for another moment.

The ship rose above the ground little by little, and the beacon increased in frequency.

The moment the ship rose above the ground, Harry noticed a hole in it. The hole fit the box he found on Ivo's ship perfectly.

He fished into his back with one hand, while raising the ship with the other hand. The box would fit into the hole perfectly.

The ground continued to ship, the crackling of rocks continued beneath him for a few seconds.

Nyssa took half of a step to him. She didn't move further than she did, but she half expected something to occur.

The ship rumbled underneath where they all stood. A miniature Earthquake escalated for a few seconds.

"What are you doing?"

A blur shot at Harry. This time, Harry prepared himself for the attack. He spun around as quick as the woman attacked to block her hand.

Harry propelled her back against the island. She hit the ground, not hard, but hard enough to knock the wind out of her for a moment. The ricochet of magical energy affected her as much as any other human.

"You attacked me," Harry said.

"It wasn't on purpose," she said.

Harry smiled, getting a good look at her. She was an attractive blonde teenage girl, dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans. Her hair looked to be in disarray.

"I don't bruise easily, but you pack a hell of a punch," Harry said. "The real question is, why are you here?"

The girl took a few seconds to shake her head.

"I'm….I'm not sure."

She closed her eyes, with Harry extending a hand to help her to her feet.

"I heard…a siren coming from the ship."

"I didn't hear the siren," Nyssa said.

"It must only be picked up on select frequencies," Sara said. "I didn't hear it either."

"I did," Harry said.

"Hmm," the girl said. "I don't know but….there are other people on the island….not just you and your party."

"I'm well aware of the HIVE," Harry said.

"What's the HIVE?" she asked.

"Long story," Harry said. "You must be a long way from home, aren't you?"

"Yes, a long way," the girl said.

For a moment, she thought he meant her home, which blew up, not her home which was her home now.

' _I guess either would work.'_

"Is this your ship?"

The girl stood bolt upright for a couple of minutes. For a second, she adopted a defensive stance and stared back at him.

"Why would it be my ship?" she asked.

The young man stepped in front of her. She shivered. His green eyes looking into her bright blue eyes made it seem like he peered into her very soul.

"Given your powers, I'm guessing you're not from around here," Harry said. "There are other worlds out of there. The universe would be vast. It's weird, and not to be mention disappointing, Earth would have the only intelligent life in the universe."

The girl snorted in response, but took a moment to recover herself.

"I'm….well Earth is my home," she said.

"I'm not a government official who is going to get their panties in a snit because your different," Harry said. "I think your powers are quite beautiful, and the potential for them could be far greater. You can do so much more than…"

"I'm trying to blend in," she said.

Harry shook his head. Boy he had been down this road of wanting to be normal, wanting to blend in, wanting to belong.

"The truly extraordinary stand out despite their best efforts. And I think you've barely scratched the surface of your powers."

The temptation to take her powers to the next level visited the girl.

Harry wondered if trying to tempt a young impressionable, albeit powerful, teenage girl resulted in his most morally ambiguous action. The perky teenager before him looked to be among the most powerful women on Earth.

She took out those mercenaries like they were nothing.

"You could move mountains and punch out asteroids without breaking a sweat," Harry said. "But, strength is only one element. I can teach you skill, to amplify your powers. You won't have to fear anyone finding out…you know, I never caught your name."

"Kara, Kara Danvers," Kara said.

"My name is Harry Potter," he said.

An energy wave swept over Kara. The wave of energy resulted in her body shivering.

"I'll help you get off of the island, and you can consider my offer. Sound like a deal?"

"Fair enough," Kara said. "Do you have any idea what's…what's keeping me? There's some kind of barrier."

"Only theories," Harry said. "But, I have a feeling when this ship is completely raised, we'll have a better idea why you were brought here and why you can't leave."

* * *

The scattered remains of HIVE on Lian Yu scrambled to get themselves together.

"You know, none of this would have happened if Zabini didn't put Potter through the veil."

"How do you figure?"

"Everything bad happened after he punted Potter through the veil. And now, the HIVE has been crippled. We're losing everything. Our boys down in the tunnel never came up."

"Well, what's the difference, if we took out Wilson, and the…..what's his name again?"

The HIVE leader turned to the drones.

"His name is Oliver Queen."

An arrow impaled one of the drones from afar. A second arrow clipped one of the HIVE drones in the chest, followed by a third, and a fourth.

Arrows rained down from the heavens, clipping everyone from afar. The drone looked up.

"It's her!"

One of the HIVE drones lifted a laser cannon and fired. The tree she stood on burned to pieces, but she made her way to the tree.

An arrow to the wrist forced him to drop the weapon. Another to the chest doubled him over before she repelled from the very top of the tree, slamming her feet down onto the head of the goon. The goon crumpled down to the ground, the wind knocked out of him with an immense force.

More HIVE drones started to scramble in. A sword impaled one of them in the back.

"First rule of combat, never walk away until you find a body."

A bloodied, battered, and burned Slade Wilson stabbed one of them in the back. The other HIVE drones turned to him. One of them electrocuted him with an energy gauntlet.

At least until he received an arrow in the back.

"And the second rule of combat, never turn your back."

A pair of hands grabbed a drone from behind and snapped his neck fiercely. Slade looked up, and dropped down to his knees.

His vision became blurred. The explosion blinded him in one eye, and the other was nearly swollen shut.

Artemis blinked. A strikingly beautiful woman around her age, with platinum blonde hair stood above Slade.

"Hello, Dad, long time, no see."

"Rose, is….I thought you were….."

"You thought I was dead," Rose said. She pulled Slade off of his feet. "My mother searched high and low for me, but you never did. You never gave a damn."

"Not true, I never stopped looking for you," Slade said. "But, I thought, something bad happened. I didn't know if it was one of your Mum's old enemies, or mine, but…"

"The HIVE, it was the HIVE," Rose said. "And….you're not well, are you Father?"

"Rose, listen to me…..he needs assistance, more than I do," Slade said. "The kid won't last five minutes alone on the island, you need to get him off. His name is Oliver Queen."

"How touching, you care for some random shipwrecked billionaire more than your own daughter," Rose said. She tightened her grip around her father's neck. He gasped for air. "You see, I know what you're going to do, and I won't allow it."

"Rose, drop your father."

Slade crashed to the ground. Adeline stepped towards Rose.

"It's the Miraruku talking," Adeline said.

"No, it's not, I saw these visions of him, trying to take down Harry, before I even was injected," Rose said. She picked up Slade's blade and held the point at his throat. "Admit it, you think the Dragon's a threat."

Slade blinked. He wondered what the hell happened to his daughter. What happened to her over the past fifteen years warped her mind.

"I think he's worthy of keeping a closer eye on," Slade said. "But, I haven't determined one way or another….Rose, I don't know what happened, but…"

Artemis tried to fire an arrow at Rose. Rose spun around and sliced the arrow.

"What's going on?"

Oliver staggered into the picture. His leg looked swollen, and blood poured from a cut from his face. Half of his shirt ripped as he staggered into the picture.

"No one move," Adeline said. "You as well, Rose."

She sent tranquilizer darts at both Oliver and Slade, putting them to sleep.

Artemis dropped down, frowning. Rose stared at her, but obeyed her mother, one of the only two people she would listen to now.

The two women stared each other down for a couple of moments.

"So, hi," Artemis said.

"Hello, my name is Rose Wilson," Rose said.

"Artemis Crock."

* * *

The ship rose above the ground.

"Nothing happened?" Sara asked.

"What were you expecting, meteor showers?" Nyssa asked.

Kara shuddered at the thought of meteor showers. Given all of the problems she heard the last meteor shower caused, she thought the world could use a break from the meteor infected mutants.

Granted, she only read about it when she snuck a peak at her sister's files, so Kara couldn't say she lived it.

"No thank you," Kara said. "This island isn't the most welcoming place, is it?"

"No," Sara said. "Next time we end up on an island, I'd rather it be full of half-naked Amazon warriors, or something."

"Why do they have to be half-naked?" Kara asked.

"Never mind," Sara said, shaking her head.

"Yes, I would assume full nudity would be the preferred greeting in whatever depraved fantasy you're indulging in," Nyssa said.

"Well, don't tell me you wouldn't….."

"Never said I wouldn't," Nyssa said. "And there are whispers of such an island existing….but we're getting off topic."

Sara's curiosity gripped by Nyssa's words, but she didn't say anything.

Harry slipped the box out of his back. A perfect fit to the top slot of the ship just like he figured.

The symbols on the ship started to light up. The front of the ship began to crack open and smoke started to pour out of the ship.

"How can I be of service? My name is Indigo, I am the core program of the Brain Interactive Construct Mark Eight Point Zero."

"What is your purpose?" Harry asked.

"My purpose is to serve all Kryptonians, and any heirs which may be living on any planet," Indigo said. "Including the occupant of this ship."

"Occupant?" Kara asked.

The ship opened up even more. The group braced themselves for a few seconds.

The smoke cleared in the ship. A naked woman stirred awake in the ship.

The woman's dark hair extended to her shoulders. She had the trained body of a warrior, strong enough to crush anyone to their doom. Beautiful enough to seduce anyone to their knees. A pair of blue eyes opened up.

"Tell me who is the occupant of the ship, Indigo?" Harry asked.

"Yes, her name is Faora, she's…"

Faora broke free from the ship. Kara took a step back, recognizing her at once.

"She's one of the most dangerous women in the universe," Kara said.

The normally fearless girl experienced a slight about of apprehension. Faora rose from her feet and stared at them.

"Where am I?"

Faora rose above the ship, eyes blazing for a moment.

"WHERE I AM? THIS ISN'T KANDOR!"

"Kandor was destroyed," Kara said.

Faora back handed Kara, and caused her to fly to the ground. Kara hit the ground.

"The General, she needs….she needs me," Faora said.

"Stop," Harry said.

Faora stopped for a second. Her body betrayed itself to his commands.

"Who are you to tell me to stop?" Faora asked.

"I'm the most powerful man on this planet," Harry said.

Faora scoffed.

"No man can tell me what to….."

"Kneel."

Faora's knees bent in front of Harry. The other girls watched in awe, Kara more so than anyone else.

"No man has ever brought Faora to her knees," Kara said.

Faora looked up at Harry with a mixture of confusion, anger, and reverence as well. The woman didn't know what the hell happened. Confusion hit her and hit her hard.

"Okay, now you're going to tell me how you came to Earth."

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty-One: Visitor.**

* * *

Kara stared at Harry with a degree of awe. Being special in her own way, Kara thought she shouldn't really be in awe of everything. Yet, she saw his power, and the fact he forced a woman who held a great amount of disinterest towards men to her knees.

' _Wow,'_ Kara thought.

Faora, the bold and powerful Faora, who brought down many powerful enemies with her tactics, lingered on her knees before Harry Potter. Kara's eyes scanned over him.

"Is he always this impression?" Kara asked.

She never meant to speak the question out loud. The moment the words passed through Kara's lips, she stopped. Her ears shifted and turned red. The super powered woman's heart sped up for a moment.

"Yes, he is impressive," Nyssa said.

"Very impressive," Cass said.

Kara nodded for a moment. Her eyes raked over his body. Now Harry completed the ship, the fifteen-year-old girl's head became much clearer now.

He resembled the legend of Nightwing, one of the many godly beings her people worshipped. A dragon-like being took on a human form, and acquired a huge collective of women to cater to his every whim.

Kara took notice all of Harry's companions were women.

"Are you able to talk to me now?" Harry asked.

For a brief second, something washed over Faora's eyes. The woman took a moment to hitch in a deep breath.

"Yes, I'll talk," Faora said.

"Good, I'm glad," Harry said. "How long have you been on this planet?"

"I can't remember," Faora said. "I was sent along by my superior to….scout out a potential location to bring a select group of people after our planet succumbed to the illness which destroyed it."

"Illness meaning the planet died, not so much the people on it," Kara said.

"I was getting to the point," Faora said. "Just because you're the daughter of the most brilliant woman on Krypton, doesn't mean you have to undercut me."

"It's nice you're trying to intimidate me," Kara said. "You're not as intimidating as you think, when you're on your knees."

"He could bring you to your knees, if he wished," Faora said.

"Well, I never said he couldn't," Kara said.

"Well, you reminded me of the other part of my mission," Faora said. "You remember Jor-El, don't you?"

"Trust me, I don't think I could forget, Jor-El," Kara said.

"Your uncle, if I'm not mistaken," Faora said.

"Yes, in a matter of speaking," Kara said.

"Well regardless, Jor-El sent his spawn to this planet, and the General ordered me to intercept the ship," Faora said. "The destruction of the planet was at hand."

"Jor-El reproduced?" Kara asked.

"Yes, and….rumor is he broke the council's edict, and did so with the traditional manners, other than the scientific method officially mandated by the elders," Faora said.

"I didn't need those images in my mind," Kara said. "No thank you."

"Well, you're welcome for them never the less," Faora said. "Anyway, I was sent here to incept his spawn. He, or she….I don't even know what the child was, was to be raised by the General as its ultimate soldier."

Kara pulled a face.

"The General and her army, they were banished," Kara said. "Argo lingered for a few years after the demise of Krypton until…even our shields failed. My mother sent me to Earth at eleven, but I remained in stasis for around ten years."

"Krypton exploded fifteen years ago," Harry said.

"Yes," Kara said.

"The meteor showers in Kansas were fifteen years ago," Harry said.

"So, you're thinking Jor-El's spawn is in this Kansas place?" Faora asked. "Interesting….."

"My cousin would be about eighteen years old right now," Kara said. "The trip between Earth to Krypton takes about three years, on your average vessel. My mother sent me from Argo when I'm eleven, and at fourteen, I showed up here."

"Interesting," Harry said. "But, I think your mission is over, Faora. You've been out of commission for at least fifteen years. And as Kara said, the General and her army has been banished."

"Yes, the Council's doing, no doubt," Faora said. "They always hated progressive thinking. Even Jor-El and your mother suffered under their wake. So many scientific achievements remained unrealized because Krypton evolved to a level where progress wasn't needed."

Harry frowned. Something about the Council's attitude sounded familiar to him, just a little bit.

"Well, the General, leveled Kandor, during the civil war," Kara said. "One of the most beautiful cities in the universe, and she destroyed it."

"Kandor was destroyed at least eight times, according to the records," Faora said. "At least every couple hundred years, and…she didn't destroy Kandor. She failed to save it."

"I believe Father might have been the culprit behind Kandor's destruction," Indigo said. "Along with all of Krypton."

"Indigo, why didn't you inform me of this?" Faora asked.

"You never asked me," Indigo said.

Shado, who remained silent this entire time, looked at everyone. Her gaze lingered on Harry.

"So, I hate to interrupt, but…."

"Okay, we need to regroup," Harry said. "The two of you, can stop sniping at each other for a minute, and we can focus. Kara, I know you have a home to return to."

"I'm surprised my sister didn't overturn the planet trying to look for me," Kara said. "So, what are we going to do?"

"I'm thinking the barrier is off of the island now," Harry said. "So, you can return home if you wish."

Kara thought about it for a moment.

"Will I see you again?" Kara asked.

"Do you want to?" Harry asked.

"Obviously," Kara said.

The young woman hesitated for a few seconds. Did she really want to leave this place? So many answers yet to have been realized, but with a clearer head, Kara came to the grim conclusion it was time for her to leave.

"She's found a place," Faora said. "Good for her."

"I may have a place for you," Harry said. "How skilled are you as a fighter?"

"Very," Faora said.

"I'll be the judge of that," Nyssa said.

The two women looked at each other. Sara cracked a smile.

Cass felt blessed she wore a mask over face, but it allowed her to maintain her composure and her dignity.

* * *

"So, I've got a lead," Barbara said.

Laurel and Barbara walked down the streets in one of the worst parts of the city.

"You got the pepper spray, right?" Barbara asked.

"Oh, I'm already enjoying this," Laurel said.

"Well, it's not the….friendliest part of town," Barbara said. "Keep your hood up, and don't maintain eye contact with anyone."

"What does the lead have to do with my sister?" Laurel asked.

"I'm not sure," Barbara said. She frowned. "And speaking of sisters….."

Laurel spotted a young girl with brown hair, of around thirteen or so years old. She dressed in a black jean jacket, a white shirt, and blue jeans.

"What's she doing here?" Laurel asked.

Laurel knew she shouldn't draw attention to herself, but perhaps this was one of the cases where she should draw attention to herself.

The older woman walked up and grabbed the young girl by the shoulder.

The girl spun around in surprise. Her hand raised, but stopped. The woman took a step back, eyebrow raised.

"Laurel?" she asked.

"Yes, Thea, what are you doing here?" Laurel asked.

"I could ask you the same question," Thea Queen said. Her arms folded and she looked up at her, even though both of the older girls towered over here.

"I asked you first," Laurel said. "There's no reason why you should be here."

"Well, I was going to meet…some friends of mine," Thea said. "I've had a bad month, so I don't need the third degree, okay."

"Some friends?" Barbara asked.

"Yes, some friends," Thea said. "I don't even know why the two of you would be here. This is a bad part of town, you shouldn't be here. It's dangerous."

"Yes, it's dangerous," Barbara said. "Which is why you shouldn't be here."

"I have to be here," Thea said. "I have to find out….some things."

Laurel frowned. Having a younger sister, she understood when she was being mislead or lied to. She steered Thea away from the entrance of a rather shifty looking building.

"What do you need to find out?" Laurel asked.

"My brother and my father drowned at sea," Thea said. "And I thought….well it's stupid."

"What's stupid?" Laurel asked.

"I'm stupid, I'm being stupid, you think I'm some stupid kid who is getting in over her head, who can't handle herself," Thea said. "I can't believe I thought this would work."

"Thea, I understand what you're going through," Laurel said.

"Oh, I know," Thea said. "I know you've been busy, coping with what happened to Sara."

The sensation of guilt spread through Laurel. She thought about her own problems so much she didn't check up on Thea.

"I should have called you, made sure you were okay. There's no excuse."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Thea said. "Seriously though, I know I shouldn't be here, but you shouldn't be here. Why are you here?"

"Well, we're not meeting up with friends," Barbara said.

The computer prodigy looked over Thea's shoulder, in the door.

"I don't know if anyone in the club looks really friendly," Barbara said.

"Well, I thought….I thought I could find answers," Thea said.

"Why could you think you could find answers?" Laurel asked.

Thea threw her hands up. She couldn't tell Laurel obviously. The person who sent her the e-mail told her not to tell anyone. The fact she overheard Oliver telling one of his friends they could get hooked up for anything here made everything more enticing.

"What is this, the third degree?" Thea asked. "It's just a hunch I had."

"And here I thought you were meeting friends," Laurel said. "Look, Thea, it's not safe, I should drive you home."

Thea opened her mouth to protest, but Laurel gave her one of those older sister looks. The youngest Queen hung her head.

"Fine, if you want to," Thea said. "I don't really need to be here anyway."

Thea walked off, a defeated look in her face.

' _And both the detectives are going to pump me for information, aren't they?'_ Thea thought.

She recalled the e-mail, hinting her brother and father, along with Laurel's sister, went down at sea, because of some double dealings. And Thea wondered about her mother, who she overheard talking to Malcolm Merlyn about something very suspicious, even if Thea couldn't make out many of the details.

* * *

Harry checked over Rose, after returning to the ship. Adeline folded her arms and waited.

"I think the combination of the life debt and the serum has….well, it's made you loyal to me," Harry said. "In a fanatical way."

"Are you complaining?" Rose asked.

"Not really, but within reason….."

"No one should get in your way," Rose said. "My father would seek to undermine you. He doesn't understand your power. No man can, because they're inferior to you in all ways."

Harry smiled.

"Many women would agree with you," Harry said.

"The real question is do you agree with me?" Rose asked. "Don't answer the question, because I know because of the state of you."

Harry smiled.

"I'll deal with you later," Harry said to her.

"Will you?" Rose asked.

Rose envisioned how Harry might deal with her. Given she served him, he could deal with her in any way he wished.

Granted, she still had to share Harry with all of these other bitches, but it was more proof of his superiority.

"If you wish," Rose said. "I better return to my room, while you think about what do with me?"

Rose walked off. The tight leather pants she wore made her ass sway back and forth. The formula caused her to fill out from the waif she found.

"So, I wonder where she gets her….personality?" Harry asked.

"I don't know what you talk about," Adeline said. "Are you sure Fiers is working for….."

"Yes, I'm sure, and there's going to be a problem if she wants to step on my toes," Harry said. "And she's the type of person who would step on some very important toes."

"Yes, I know," Adeline said. "Good luck in trying to deal with her. I'll see what I can do. My mission veered off in another different direction."

"So, tell me?" Harry asked.

The two of them leaned in close to each other. Adeline crossed her arms for a few seconds and corked her eyebrow.

"Did you intend to spy on the HIVE, or did you get sucked into it?"

Adeline thought about the question.

"ARGUS wanted to keep an eye on the HIVE. They knew they were dangerous, although they didn't know how. I wasn't intentionally brought in from the angle. They went to me with an offer I couldn't refuse."

"The HIVE is full of manipulators," Harry said. "I know how manipulative they could be better than anyone else."

"You spent half of your life being tricked by them? Adeline asked.

"Near enough," Harry said. He leaned closer towards her with a smile. "Regardless though, the HIVE is on the rocks."

"How far are they sliding?" Adeline asked.

"This island might not be their most important asset, but it's one of their important assets," Harry said. "And now, HIVE's outpost is mine."

"I don't think it would be too big of a resource," Adeline said. "This is the most populated the island has ever been."

"Yes, chalk it up to many people trying to pull together their plans," Harry said.

"So, I'm going to ask the question," Adeline said. "What to do with Oliver Queen? You do realize he could be a problem."

"What about your husband….."

"Ex-husband," Adeline said. "He disappeared into the night years ago, without a trace, remember?"

"Yes, I figured….there's some drama I don't want to be involved in, is it?" Harry asked.

Adeline's lips curled into a smile. She leaned to Harry after a few seconds.

"Slade and I have had an interesting relationship," Adeline said. "We had our own separate lives at times, and every now and then, they've come together. But, I think there's a time where we became drove further apart. I never stopped looking for Rose, and he….well I thought he could look harder."

"So Rose's delusions aren't as delusional," Harry said.

"Well, they're somewhat based in reality. Although they're not as extreme as she's making it out to be. Do you think my daughter, will be stabilized?"

"Her loyalty goes to me, I think I can keep her….stable."

"Oh?" Adeline asked.

"Yes," Harry said.

"I understand."

Harry smiled, he was glad she understood where he was going through.

"I think there's no harm in leaving Oliver on the island," Harry said. "Or Slade, but I'll leave the ball on your court. Unless you can think of a better use of them, I have no use of them, or no reason to take them down, unless they do something to get in the way of my plans."

"And, I almost feel bad for them."

Harry turned around and noticed Artemis walking onto the ship. A good meal and some good sleep allowed Artemis to become a bit clearer in mind.

"Well, I guess I have safe passage off of the island," Artemis said.

"If you want it," Harry said. "Unless you want to stay on the island until your father picks you up."

"Yeah, hate to disappoint him, but I'd rather get off the island as soon as possible," Artemis said. "I learned a fair amount on the island, and there's a fair bit more to learn, isn't there?"

"If you wish, the League can teach you," Harry said.

"The fabled League of Assassins?" Artemis asked. "Well, I can't ask for better training, for me to settle the score with my father."

Artemis blamed her father for the condition her mother found herself in. When Artemis arrived on the island, her mother lingered in a coma, uncertain if she'd ever wake up again, much less walk.

"Well, there are other considerations in joining the League," Harry said. "If you help us, I'll help you even the scales. There's much more to this than meets the eye, isn't it?"

Artemis smirked.

"Just a little bit more, maybe. It's a long story."

'Well if you have the time, my door's open," Harry said

"No wonder the women actually flock to you, you actually listen," Artemis said.

Harry smiled, and turned his attention to Shado. Adeline did as well.

"So, we found your father," Adeline said.

"Did you?" Shado asked. "Is he….is he….."

"You want to see him?" Adeline asked.

"Yes," Shado said.

"Cass, do you think you can go with the two of them, to ensure there isn't any trouble?" Harry asked. He leaned in close. "Make sure there aren't any loose HIVE agents on the island."

"I think all of them are dead," Cass said. Harry corked his eyebrow. "But, I'll check."

* * *

Later in the evening, Harry sat in one of the main chambers of the AMAZO. Indigo showed to be a nice addition to the ship.

"I think this ship is rather well made for a vessel for a planet so primitive," Indigo said. "I wonder if this Ivo encountered some alien technology during his life, and was inspired."

"Actually, the high tech modifications on the ship were mine," Harry said.

"Oooh," Indigo said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you by assuming you didn't….I feel….I'm so sorry I didn't….."

"It's fine, Indy," Harry said. "Could you please scan the drive I removed from HIVE base?"

"I believe you humans have a phrase which is appropriate here," Indigo said.

"Yes?" Harry asked.

"A piece of cake," Indigo said.

"You mentioned your father," Harry said.

"Yes, the original Brain Interactive Construct program, no one knows how invented him, but the Council located the source code in an old lab," Indigo said. "They created the code as a monitoring system for the planet of Krypton."

"Well, I'm sure the code is useful," Harry said.

"It works out well," Indigo said. "Several different versions of Brainiac were created. I was created by a defect, but the House of Zod liberated me. And I'm here to serve them in any way they wish. Hence why I've been sent here as Faora's guide as we attempted to locate a new world for us to blend into."

"So, you live to serve the House of Zod?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Faora said.

"Hmm, interesting," Harry said.

He returned, looking over the information on the HIVE. He acquired enough data to finish them off, and drive Darhk out in the open.

' _Two birds with one stone,'_ Harry thought.

"What do you know about your heritage?" Indigo asked.

"Not a lot," Harry said.

"So, I've made a decision."

Harry dragged himself from Indigo's conversation. Faora joined him, dressed in a black tank top and jeans. The clothes snugly fit her, but they worked in a pinch. Most certainly her attire made things look a bit more conventional and allow her to move around with ease.

"Yes?" Harry asked.

"I've come to the conclusion the rest of my army didn't make it," Faora said. "But, I'm not going to waste time mourning them. They understood the price of war."

"You are a survivor," Harry said.

"I am a survivor," Faora said. "And now I don't have anyone to offer my services to who are worthy, other than your group. Other than the League of Assassins."

"Many people in this group have lost their purpose, and found it with the League," Harry said. "I'll be happy to allow you into the League."

"The League has entered a war of this own, with this HIVE," Faora said. "Do you have a plan for the end game?"

"Yes, I'm working on one right now," Harry said.

Faora leaned in to listen to Harry's plans.

Given her experience, Harry figured he would get some feedback from her, and make some adjustments.

"Use every resource?" Faora asked. Harry smiled. "I like it, one of the prime directives of any war. And you have a useful resource."

Harry smiled. The games would begin soon enough. All he had to do was send the word, and the first step of the final gambit against the HIVE.

* * *

Queen Bee arrived to the HIVE main headquarters. The once mighty organization crumbled a little bit. They still had resources, but those resources turned out to be less than abundant than ever before.

The HIVE lead council stepped forward. Four lead members greeted her instead of the standard seven.

"Our resources have depleted," Queen Bee said.

"Yes, I understand, another HIVE outpost has fallen, the third within the last week," one of the HIVE leaders said.

"Is it true?" Queen Bee asked. "Has Ra's Al Ghul in his desperation raised the Dragon?"

"The Dragon, is a myth, and one created by the superstitious and the foolish."

The shaky tone of the HIVE council member betrayed him. Queen Bee corked an eyebrow, leaning in. The sweat and the heavy breathing betrayed the man more in his tone.

"Are you trying to tell me about how you think the Dragon is a scam? Or are you trying to convince yourself of this matter?"

"I won't believe some myth."

"I'm not sure if it's a myth. The Dragon brings misfortune on those who destroy him."

"The Dragon didn't show up until Zabini's blunder," one of them said. "When he killed Potter."

The other HIVE members talked amongst themselves. Queen Bee cleared her throat. She had to clear her throat a good three times before the HIVE members dragged their attention away from the bickering over to her.

"Ra's Al Ghul planted the seeds of discontent within you. And we're going to end up defeating ourselves if we don't pull it together."

"I couldn't agree more."

An imposing figure stood in the shadows, flanked by a few bodyguards. The HIVE council's eyes widened in surprise, all of them stepped back.

"No, it can't be. It's impossible."

Queen Bee extended her head forward. She bowed for a moment, but did not go to her knees. Her hair flipped across her face.

"Well, it is. Our great leader has shown up in the flesh, and….it must be serious."

"I never showed myself before this point, because the HIVE ran itself. I didn't have to meet with you."

"The wand-wavers have brought misfortune upon us all," one of the HIVE council members said.

The one and only Damien Darhk chuckled.

"I wouldn't give them too much credit. There's only one party who is playing us all, and you know it. If I had known what I knew then, I would have killed him."

The other members of the HIVE looked at their men.

"The problem with pawns if they linger on the chessboard for too long, they become harder to control. The Bumblebee turned into this towards the end. He fancied himself as his own chess master."

"Yes, but….there's only one person who you can blame for this, my leader," Queen Bee said. "Ra's Al Ghul should be eliminated, if the HIVE should rise. He's used the legend of the Dragon to stir discontent. He doesn't control the Dragon any more than we could."

"I see," Darhk said. "I have only one thing to say to you, Bee."

"Yes?"

"You're correct," Darhk said. "The Demon and myself should have had our moment of reckoning a long time ago. I cannot properly live, unless he dies, and vice versa."

"So, what do you plan to do?"

"I wish to forgive him," Darhk said.

"My lord?" one of them asked.

"It's time to extend the hand, the League and the HIVE are better off on the same side," Darhk said. "To bring down the Demon, I must enter his good graces. He will accept me, if I bow before him, even if it lack sincerity."

"But what if he kills you?" Queen Bee asked.

Everyone went silent. Queen Bee's question made the HIVE wonder if she spoke out of turn. Darhk's gaze turned to her.

"Don't worry, stick to the plan."

"Might I ask what the plan is?" Queen Bee asked.

* * *

Sara walked from her room to Harry's chambers. She made an impulse decision of what she wanted.

Okay not so much of an impulse, really a calculation. Regardless, the woman found herself outside of Harry's door.

Sara raised her hand and knocked on the door. She didn't have to wait too long for an answer.

"Come in, Sara."

Those words from Harry permitted Sara to enter. She entered the private chambers of the leader of the League. His aura never ceased to amaze her.

And she wasn't sure if he tried to amaze her. He did it without any effort.

"So, what brings you to my quarters?" Harry asked.

"The two of us are alone," Sara said. She flashed Harry a smiled.

"Yes," Harry said. "The two of us are alone, for as long as you want to."

"Good, we need to talk."

Harry smiled as he looked at her. He crossed the room and made his way towards her. Sara didn't back up. She allowed Harry to rest his hands on the side of her waist. The young man smiled and leaned in towards her.

"So, you're going to finally admit what happened, aren't you?" Harry asked.

"You're referring to the fact I kissed you, and got away with it."

"Oh, I'm not sure if you necessarily got away with kissing me. But yes, I'm talking about you kissing me."

A shiver blew down Sara's spine. He had the measure of her for sure. His finger rested on her lower back.

"I didn't mean to….overstep my bounds," Sara said. "But, I'm not sorry about what I did either."

"Good, I hate indecision," Harry said. "You did what you wanted, and the part of you got off of having a moment of control."

"A little bit," Sara said. "But, I'm more excited about what I can do with you, and what you can do to me. You can dominate me in any way you want."

Sara pressed herself against Harry. Her warm body pressed up against him. Harry reached behind her and cupped her ass.

"Can I?" Harry asked.

"I'll show you my devotion, show you no other man is superior to you. I'll do anything to serve the true leader of the League of Assassins."

Harry appreciated her words. He appreciated actions even more. He smiled and leaned down towards Sara.

The heir of the demon captured Sara's lips in kiss. The girl returned the kiss. Her tongue shoved into Harry's mouth. He backed her up against the wall and pressed her in, kissing her.

His kiss caused her mind to grown numb and the area between her thighs are moistened.

"You want this, you want me to fuck you, don't you?"

No doubt at all what Sara wanted. She smiled and grabbed Harry's shirt, and tore it off. His shirt tore from his body and revealed his muscular chest and abs. Her fingers trailed down his abs.

Sara swooped him for another kiss. She started to trail a series of kisses down his collarbone and started to make her way down him. Her salvia trailed down his abdomen.

Descending to her knees, Sara removed Harry's belt. She pulled down the bottom half of him. Her lips as it was relieved for her.

"Looks much bigger up close, doesn't it?"

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Dragon.**

* * *

Kara returned back home. She couldn't really explain what happened to her, mostly because questions rattled in the back of her mind. The brief meeting she experienced with Harry on the island enhanced her curiosity, but also got her thinking.

The older man invaded her mind and would not be leaving any time soon. Her thoughts lingered on something most wouldn't really consider. Given her education on Krypton, most of it had to do with science. The logic of Kryptonians mandated they would learn about the facts. To understand how the world worked.

Kara's lips curled into a frown for a second. Their understanding of the workings of the world proved to be very flawed. Would she have been on Earth? Even Argo, one of the most enlightened places on Krypton, fell. The council and the Argo city leaders butted heads. Her mother butted heads with the council even more times than Jor-El.

' _Which is saying something,'_ Kara thought. _'Jor-El kept warning them the planet was going to explode, which they didn't really want to hear…..and he turned out to be right. Which happens more than enough, but it's Jor-El. Of course he's right.'_

The meteor shower made Kara recall something. Could it be possible something else came down with the meteors on a certain sunny afternoon fifteen years ago. The official word on the matter discussed how the meteor shower rained down and caused havoc and property damage. An odd event triggered by a one in a million scientific fluke.

' _Yeah, people would rather buy a fluke, then chunks of a planet falling from the sky,'_ Kara thought. _'Can't say I blame them. But, weird, it landed in Smallville in all places, and not anywhere else in the world.'_

A sleepy little city in the middle of Kansas painted a very poor picture of a place where something strange and mysterious happened.

' _Something tangible must have landed there,'_ Kara thought. _'Something by design, and….what Faora said….I don't….know…could it?"_

Could it? Faora's information the General sent her to intercept the spawn of Jor-El struck Kara as news. The relationship between Jor-El and his brother strained a little bit due to a clash of ideals between the two of them. They reconciled about as many times as they stood at each other's throats.

Kara slumped down on the desk. A million thoughts passed through her head in a minute. Even a super powered mind such as hers felt overwhelmed.

Being a teenager in a strange world made Kara well aware of how awkward she could seem. She rose to her feet with a frown on her face.

' _I really want to head there, to take a closer look around. If only I hadn't been ripped halfway across the world. Being a teenager on Earth really is bad, you don't have too much freedom. And I should have more freedom given the fact I could fly.'_

Kara figured she could not get away with a trip to Smallville at this point. Did the DEO even monitor Smallville?

"Kara, are you okay in there?"

The knock on the door caused Kara to spring up out of her thoughts. If it weren't for super powers, she would have given herself whiplash.

She did trip over a chair in room for a second, but managed to recover her balance and her dignity at the same time.

"Yeah, Alex, I'm just recovering from the weirdness. I needed to….I wasn't feeling well. Yes, I know, technically it wasn't a physical thing, more of a mental thing."

"Are you alright now?"

"Yes, and I'll be out in a little bit, I feel much better, just let me take a shower. I've been battling my own thoughts for some long I never really had a chance to take a shower."

Alex bought Kara's words for a moment. She wanted to come down for a little bit, get some fresh air.

"Dinner is ready, when you are."

"I should be ready in a little bit," Kara said. "I swear."

Perhaps a good dinner might work towards clearing her thoughts. Worth a shot, she said. Kara paused and shook her head.

Kara moved to her wardrobe and pulled out some fresh clothes. Ending up on the island made her other set of clothes ratty.

She slipped into the bathroom adjacent to her. She stripped off her clothes. Pausing, she noticed a locket pushing out of her pocket. An emerald hung in the middle of the clasp of the locket.

The emerald reminded her of the enchanting young man she met on the island. Kara tried not to act like a schoolgirl with a crush, getting wet in the panties because of some older man.

Okay, not quite a man, more like a god. What was the Kryptonian word for dragon again?

Nightwing, Kara recalled it. Sounded English enough, but a good quarter of the Kryptonian sounded English enough. Weird nonsense words in some cases, but they had some basis in English.

Shaking her head, Kara returned her attention to the amulet. Her enhanced vision spotted a note slipping out from the shining emerald.

 **Keep me close to your heart.**

The words sounded a bit cheesy, but Kara couldn't help grinning a little bit. She would agree. She didn't know exactly what the locket did. It seemed like something she might need.

"Okay, um thank you, Harry," Kara said. "And if you're listening…..well….thanks for getting me back home without too much of a problem. I can never repay you."

Shaking her head, Kara slapped herself for being so silly. Talking to a locket, not exactly the weirdest thing she did. Some of her kitchen misadventures brought a frown to Kara's face.

' _Talk about things you'll never live down as long as you live, Danvers.'_

* * *

Sara snuggled her head into Harry's shoulder. After what happened last night, she drifted to sleep with a satisfied smile on her face.

A slight soreness spread through Sara's thighs. Her eyes opened. The young blonde slid up Harry and leaned towards him.

"So, last night really happened?" Sara asked.

Harry laughed as he wrapped her arm around Sara. He pushed the beautiful blonde towards him. She sat up and pressed her hands against the muscular chest of the young man.

"Do you regret it happening?" Harry asked.

"Not on your life."

Sara swooped down and planted her lips onto Harry's. The two sets of lips connected together.

"Last night was amazing," Sara said. "I didn't think…..well I didn't think it could feel this fulfilling. You really are the real deal."

"Believe it," Harry said. "But, don't think it's going to get you off easy. After a good night of sex, an early morning sparring session is sure to follow."

Frustration burned through Sara's body. She figured after last night, she would get laid off in training. Well, she didn't want the training to go too easy, because it would be favoritism. Still she thought for a moment everything would cool down a little bit.

Sara kicked her legs out of the bed. She crossed the room, her body swaying. Her tight ass flashed in front of Harry's face.

"Well, nice try, and I appreciate the view. But, I'm going to still kick your ass later."

"Well, we'll see, we'll see. Although, you can still kiss it and make it feel better."

"Interesting suggestion, might have to take you up on it."

The younger Lance sister smiled, and shook her head. One couldn't blame a girl for trying. Regardless she made her way to the wardrobe, and moved inside.

How Harry showered already and had not woke her up, Sara wouldn't know. Had to be some magical type thing, at least she assumed as much?

' _Then again, there are many mysteries regarding him, I don't know. I've barely been able to scratch the surface. Even though he's scratched mine.'_

Sara shrugged for a moment. She didn't really want any distractions. The more she walked, the more the woman thought about last night. The more Sara thought about last night, the more a hardness reached her nipples and moisture spread over her hot wet lips.

' _Well, she's eager, especially now I've given her more than a taste.'_

Harry slipped into the next room. After their business concluded here, making sure the last traces of HIVE left the island, and his group reclaimed all of their resources, everything would be smooth sailing there.

Would he be prepared to take the next step? The chess pieces moved into place for Harry's next plan.

Faora agreed his plan proved to have merit. Harry created both a main plan and a couple of back up plans. The back up plans resulted in less sophistication and planning than the others, but Harry figured they would be effective.

Sara stepped out of the shower. Her hair dripped wet. She wore a tight black top and a hip hugging pair of black pants. The woman approached Harry with a smile and leaned towards him, showing a bit of her cleavage.

"If you're going to try and distract me, an interesting tactic," Harry said. "An enjoyable one as well. So thank you for giving me a way to practice my focus."

She laughed, not really her intention, but she appreciated being able to help she could. The two of them made their way into the dueling arena.

Sara took a few deep breaths. She challenged herself to get one hit on Harry, or take him down at least once. Nyssa reminded Sara she would have to keep thinking outside of the box.

And with Harry, he controlled the box.

Sounded a lot cleaner in her head, but Sara shook her head. Harry stepped up towards her. Both of them circled each other.

Sara tried the first attack. Harry dodged the attack. The two circled each other.

The blonde warrior fired a series of rapid fire kicks and punches. Harry avoided each individual attack, forcing Sara to adapt.

Sara tried for a spin kick. Harry avoided it. Sara pivoted and stood her ground. Harry aimed a punch, but she blocked it.

Each strike bounced off of Harry. He blocked most of the attacks.

"Okay, Sara, time to learn the student still has a lot to learn."

Sara landed on the mats with a solid oof. Harry pinned her in a very familiar position after last night. He crouched down against her, straddling her thighs.

"Don't forget to stay focused Sara. You need to avoid any, distractions."

Harry punctuated the last word by grinding his crotch down onto hers.

Saying to stay focused and actually staying focused were two different things. Harry stepped back after an instant.

He waved for Sara. The two of them engaged in round two in battle. Sara's rapid fire kicks and punches broke through Harry's defenses.

Harry staggered back. Sara grinned. For a second, until Harry pushed her legs out from underneath her and dropped her onto her back, pinning her to the ground.

For the second time, Sara found herself underneath Harry.

"And the two of you started without me? I'm hurt."

Nyssa slipped into the room. Harry backed up and allowed Sara to rise to her feet.

"Well, I'm sure we can make it up to you, in the future," Harry said. "Won't we, Sara?"

Sara imagined being caught between the two of them. A goofy grin spread over her face.

"Oh, we sure will."

"Why, don't you take five," Harry said. "And Nyssa can try to take my head off."

"Oh, I'll try, but I've yet to succeed," Nyssa said. "I have to keep you on your toes."

Take five, gladly, Sara could take five. If anything else, it gave her the opportunity to see a couple of masters at work.

Nyssa and Harry circled each other, swords drawn. The battle prepared and Sara watched.

' _Sometimes, I'm not sure if they're trying to kill each other, or they're in the middle of some weird form of foreplay.'_

* * *

Damien Darhk took one step onto the sacred grounds of Nanda Parbat, flanked by his guard. Queen Bee lingered in the background, more of a spectator of what's to come more than anything.

"It's been a long time," Darhk said. "And not much has changed. Par for the course for you, isn't it, Ra's Al Ghul?"

Darhk's words spoke to the wind and nothing more. One of the most dangerous men in the world crossed the threshold and made the journey up to face Ra's Al Ghul.

The royal guard stepped into the picture. Their swords drawn towards him, and pointed at him.

"How amusing," Darhk said. "I do not wish to come here for a fight. I wish to come here to mend fences. It's been long overdue."

"Stand down."

The Demon stepped into the picture. He walked up to Darhk and surveyed the man. If it was the man and not another one of his doubles, with Ra's taking a long moment to verify the truth of the matter.

"You must be brazen to come here given all which has transpired. Or you must be stupid."

Ra's guard moved in, giving their master space, while also attempting to protect their master.

"So tell me, what has caused you to take an entire leave of your senses?"

Darhk stepped to face him. The two men were up close and personal for the first time in a long time.

"Recent misfortunes have caused me to rethink my plans," Darhk said. "And I understand both of us are at a crossroads. Our efforts to remain immortal will not last forever."

Ra's didn't even blink.

"We could have worked together, we could have been great," Darhk said. "But instead, in our attempts to achieve our own path, we've diluted the greatness."

The Demon remained silent.

"He's risen because of this and targeted the HIVE. And he will target the League and take whatever he wants, whenever he wants."

"And you're referring to whom?" Ra's asked.

"The Dragon," Darhk said.

Ra's interest became even more prominent. The Demon heard the myths regarding the Dragon and also the danger he could cause.

"And I trust the HIVE didn't have anything to do with raising the spirit of one of the most deadly warriors in the universe."

"The careless nature of one of our….ants, may have caused this. But, rest assure, certain parts of our organization have been pruned. It's time for the two of us to join forces. Before our parting, we made quite the formidable combination for our old master."

"Yes, we did. But, do come in, and you can tell me how you intend to make this work. After all of the deceit, I'm not certain how much I trust you."

Darhk locked eyes with the man. Queen Bee smiled.

"Great One, I hope you will find it deep in your heart to at least hear us out," Queen Bee said. "After all, this union might prove to be beneficial for the future of the League and the HIVE."

Ra's Al Ghul paused for a moment and leaned forward to pay his respects to the leader of the Biyala.

"Yes, for a great leader such as yourself, I will give my old colleague the opportunity to tell me why it's in my best interests not to execute him for treason," Ra's said.

"You act as if you're not getting anything out of the deal," Darhk said.

Queen Bee placed a hand on his shoulder. The action relaxed Darhk and caused him to swallow his pride.

"Both you gentlemen have done so much. Just imagine what you can do together. You'll receive everything coming to you, with the entire might of the our combined forces. Think of how your goals can align with each other."

Ra's Al Ghul and Damien Darhk locked eyes with each other. The Demon took a step back and escorted the leader of the HIVE into the temple.

Their separate groups followed each other. The tension between the assassins and the drones cut through the air like a knife.

Queen Bee separated herself beyond the rest of the group, following them as close behind as she could manage. She smiled as she watched everything transpire.

* * *

Cass sat on the deck of the ship. Her legs crossed. The last few days gave her a lot to think about. The thoughts entering her mind swarmed like a vortex which made her head split a little bit. Her mediation allowed her to make a sense of everything.

Something slapped against the boat. Cass opened up one eye and rose to her feet.

Cassandra Cain's sixth sense of trouble indicated someone boarded the ship in an attempt to attack her. She withdrew a sword from her sheath.

Two men dressed in green cloaks boarded the ship. Glowing monkey masks covered the faces of the men. One of them extended a spiked gauntlet on his hand. The other wielded a chain.

"If you're here to send a message, send it," Cass said. "If not, you leave."

The first man in the monkey mask charged her. The spiked gauntlet almost took Cass's head off. Cass veered underneath the spiked gauntlet. She jumped high into the air with a snap kick and drilled her adversary in the chest with a kick. She grabbed him around the head, and drilled his face into the ground.

The second man in the monkey mask whipped the chain. Cass crouched down to duck the chain going through her. Cass used her blade to deflect the chain. The chain snapped back at her enemy. With her attacks out of the way, Cass propelled herself in the air and slammed her blade down onto chain, destroying it.

The next blade swing brought the goon down onto his knees. Cass kicked him in the chest and knocked him down.

A sound of hands clapping caused Cass to turn around. She sliced the blade, but the woman in the shadows blocked it with her hands. She ripped the blade from her hands, and lifted the blade up.

"You haven't lost your touch. But you still have a lot to learn."

Cass backed off for a second. She inclined her head in a respectful manner for a second. She didn't drop her head too far, learning the lesson a long time ago.

"But, given your father taught you during the first part of your life, it's to be expected there are going to be some flaws in your training."

Cass's eyes narrowed for a second. If she carried a weapon, her fist clenched around it, but the warrior in the shadows disarmed her.

"Do not bring him up to me."

"Yes, I agree. It's a sore spot for both of us. But, you've flourished in the League, and now you're ready to move up to the next stage. I never thought you'd be this successful in your goal."

Cassandra didn't say anything. She wanted to figure out what the person in the shadows knew. The woman in the shadows lowered the blade.

"The Dragon, everything happens for a reason."

The second Cassandra stared in the shadows, the intruder was gone. The two monkey masked assassins she wiped out is gone.

"Cassandra?"

Cass turned around. Rose approached her.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Cassandra said.

"No, you're not, you look disturbed."

Cassandra's eyebrow raised for a brief second. She leaned in to Rose.

"Did your powers tell you I'm not okay?"

"No, the look on your face," Rose said. "It must have been something to spook you. You're the stoic type normally."

Cassandra sat down on the ground and tried to resume her medication. Rose sat down next to her as well.

"It's really annoying you, isn't it?"

"A little."

"If you want to talk about it, I'm here," Rose said.

"Glad you're feeling better."

"After the temporary insanity left me, I'm fine," Rose said. "It helped when I experienced what Harry and Sara did last night."

"You watched them?" Cass asked.

"Well, I saw the visions for days, I knew it was inevitable, and I….committed every single detail to mind," Rose said. "It relieved me for a little bit….I want more, but it will do."

"Interesting."

"You're really not one for talking, are you?"

"No."

* * *

Harry stepped onto the astral plane on the night. The plane shifted into a makeshift graveyard and Harry stepped in. The robed form of Death appeared for a moment.

"It approaches, master."

Death crossed the graveyard, and passes her hands on his hands. The two connected together.

"Souls can elude me, but not forever," Death said. "I ask you a favor….."

"Yes, what is it?" Harry asked.

"I wish for you to bring me two souls which have eluded me for centuries," Death said. "They have cheated their fates. They have not earned the right of immorality."

"If you are talking about who I think you're talking about, I will deliver them to you," Harry said.

"I understand you're taking the next step towards your uprising," Death said. "Excellent, Master…and you will reshape the world. Humanity has gone through many different shifts, some for the better, and some for the worst. And I've witnessed every single one of them."

"I know," Harry said.

He cupped Death's face and leaned to her. The two exchanged a kiss.

"Our time is short tonight, but I'll make it up for you. You've earned everything you've achieved, through trial."

Harry woke up in his bed at the sound of a knock on the door.

"Come in, Nyssa."

Nyssa crossed into the room. She approached Harry.

"My father has summoned us to return to Nanda Parbat."

Harry nodded.

"Let's prepare to depart by morning, then."

The day of reckoning approached for Harry.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty-Three: The Student and the Teacher.**

* * *

Laurel wondered how Barbara talked her into doing something like this. Granted, her friend could be persuasive when she walked to be, and Laurel was given a chance not to come. Given this news pertained to Sara, Laurel wasn't going to sit out this one by any means necessary. The woman's hands folded together and she hitched in a deep breath.

Barbara noticed the uncertainty in Laurel's body language. The way she shifted from one side to the other created an equal amount of unease. Barbara cleared her throat.

"Are you sure you're in for this?" Barbara asked.

"Yes, I'm in for this, we're in this together," Laurel said. "One way or other, we need closure. If someone murdered my sister…or whatever, I need to know the truth."

Laurel thought about a question she wrestled with in her mind. The slightest chance Sara lived stirred in her mind.

' _Not going to get my hopes up or anything?'_

"Just a warning," Barbara said. "Try not to make any eye contact with anyone…not there's anyone here to make any eye contact with, but still…..you need to be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you….."

"Don't worry, Babs, I'm a big girl, I can handle myself," Laurel said.

"A few self defense classes, maybe," Barbara said. "But, we're dealing with another caliber of people. They will chew you up and spit you out, if you give them the chance."

"Not, if we strike first," Laurel said. "No one's here though."

Barbara tensed up. She developed a sixth sense in situations like this. A weight fell into the pit of her stomach.

Something shifted in the shadows. A red cloaked figure wearing a monkey mask walked into her line of sight.

"What's happening, Barbara?" Laurel asked.

Barbara held her hand up. The figure most certainly grabbed her intention. The man, or woman, intended to grab Barbara's intention.

Laurel watched Barbara, who looked around. A dart impacted the side of Barbara's neck and caused her to slump to the ground.

"Barbara, no!"

Laurel tried to scramble in, but a rough hand grabbed her and yanked her into the alleyway.

The fight or flight instincts bred into most humans kicked in. Laurel tried to fight out of her captor's grip. Only to find her captor gripping her around the neck and pushing her to the ground. Laurel struggled against her attacker.

"Let me….let me go…"

"You have potential within you, but your discipline is not refined," she said. "You received my message and kept me waiting."

"I didn't know…."

"You not knowing will set you back," the woman said. "You had been tested and you failed at the test."

"Failed….test….what test," Laurel said. "What did you do to her?"

"She'll wake up, in about an hour. I need to talk to you, Dinah Laurel Lance. There's a conspiracy in this city, and many people have failed this city. They're a symptom of a greater force of corruption which is going to cripple the world."

"What are you talking about?" Laurel gasped.

"You'll know soon enough, when you're ready to understand. But for now, you need to know your sister walks a path she needs to walk. And soon, you will walk a similar path, or you will perish."

"What are you talking about?" Laurel asked. "Sara's….alive….why hasn't she…"

"Do not concern yourself. An uprising has occurred. The Dragon has chosen Sara as one of his disciplines. Perhaps, you will be worthy, if you don't define yourself by your life's tragedies."

The woman allowed Laurel to rise to her feet.

"Who are you?" she asked. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"You don't. And my name is Lady Shiva….you may not find much about me. Very few who have crossed my path have lived to tell the tale."

The second the woman finished her statement, she vanished into the shadows. Laurel rushed back into the club. She rubbed the side of her neck.

"Barbara?" Laurel asked.

Laurel reached down and squeezed Barbara's hand. She opened her eyes for a moment.

"Laurel….the side pocket of my bag….the third one….give me the capsule…"

Laurel paused for a moment and rummaged through the side of the bag. She handed the capsule to Barbara. Barbara took the capsule into her mouth and flickered her eyes open. The woman sat up.

"Not the best taste in the world, but it will have to do," Barbara said.

"She said the dart would take you out for an hour," Laurel said.

"No, I'm pretty sure she miscalculated a little bit," Barbara said. "Those are some nasty bruises, she really….who attacked you?"

"She said her name's Lady Shiva," Laurel said.

Barbara's expression turned suddenly grin. Laurel frowned and placed her hand on Barbara's shoulder, to squeeze it.

"Yes, Laurel, I heard you…..we better get out of here…and…..get some place safe. And make sure no one follows us."

Laurel stepped back in surprise and wondered why Barbara seemed so disturbed.

"I found out one thing….Sara's alive….at least according to her," Laurel said. "Unless she's playing mind games with me….."

"Lady Shiva doesn't play mind games," Barbara said. "She's pretty straight up with what she does, almost disturbingly so."

Laurel's eyebrow shot up. She leaned in to Barbara and the frown deepened.

"Have you met her before?"

"Later, Laurel," Barbara said. "I have to make a call home…..let me get you back safely….and don't answer the door to anyone you don't know."

Barbara didn't know if not answering the door would even work. They really stepped into a situation. Barbara hated the fact her friend seemed to get put in a hell of a situation.

"She said, the Queen's Gambit going down is part of some kind of conspiracy, although she didn't really elaborate what it is. She wasn't one for words."

' _And the only crime Laurel or Sara committed is being in the middle of some conspiracy involving the Gambit.'_

As much as Barbara hated to admit it, Oliver couldn't even be held at fault about this. Regardless what happened, they really entered something dangerous. Some really dangerous people played a really dangerous game.

* * *

For the first time since he left for his training, Harry returned to Nanda Parbat. He returned in a far better position where he left as many. One might argue Ra's might have had the upper hand.

Months passed, times changed, and Harry stepped into the picture. The various members of the Leagues noticed the heir of the Demon passing, along with the daughter of the demon and the daughter of one of the most feared women in the world, Lady Shiva.

"So, do you sense the same unease, I do?" Nyssa asked.

"It's not just you," Cass said.

Nyssa frowned. The warriors brought to Nanda Parbat always required a certain amount of tension, but the tension increased the further they walked in.

"Ubu," Nyssa said.

"The Demon wishes to see all in the high court," Ubu said. "Our master has an announcement which affects the entire League."

Only he, Cass, and Nyssa approached the edge of the temple. Harry refused to throw all of his cards on the table.

"The moment of truth?" Nyssa asked.

"The moment of truth."

The tension of the League became clearer to everyone. Damien Darhk stood next to Ra's. Queen Bee stood off to the side as well. The representatives of the HIVE surrounded the two men.

Darhk's hood remained up, to obscure his facial features to the rest of the League .

"No one has seen his face in light," Nyssa said.

"He still doesn't show his face completely," Cass said.

Harry waited for the Demon to approach. Ra's Al Ghul approached the League.

"For too long, the League wasted their time on a war. One of our former members broke off from us and formed an organization which intends to manipulate everything from the shadows. Damien Darhk and I walked a similar path, but we went our separate ways. And today, we find ourselves looming on the same path."

Ra's withdrew a sword from the sheath. For a brief second, everyone expected a double cross. The Demon sized him up.

"I could kill him where he stands," Ra's said. "But, why would I squander a research? Damien Darhk is a better resource alive, than he is being a part of the League."

Everyone started to buzz for a few seconds. A long paused followed with the Demon turning the sword in his hand.

"But, I welcome him back into the League," Ra's said. "Providing he kneels before his true leader."

The moment of truth passed. For a brief second, Darhk appeared like he might hesitate.

Harry reached his finger to scratch is nose. Queen Bee locked eyes with Darhk. The leader of the HIVE dropped to his knees before Ra's Al Ghul. Everyone gasped before him.

"I could kill you right where you kneel," Ra's said. He lowered his glimpse into the eyes of Darhk. "It would be easy, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, it would," Darhk said. "But, we have to work together, to take down a common target. The world has many grander challenges."

"Yes, and I accept the ceasefire," Ra's said. "May you be welcomed back to the League, and understand the only way out is your eternal reward."

Both men exchanged smiles and handshakes. Nyssa blinked and half expected a knife being dug into the back of either man.

"I have one final announcement, Damien Darhk will be my second in command in the League, and will be my successor the moment I pass from this world."

Nyssa's anger rose for a moment. She looked to Harry. All eyes looked towards Harry for a moment.

"Stand down," Harry said. "I'll have a word with him."

The League all looked to Harry. Even Ubu, the loyalist to Ra's, looked like he questioned his master's words.

"Good, I'm glad," Nyssa said.

* * *

The moment Ra's finished addressing the League, Nyssa made her beeline to her father.

"Welcome home, my daughter," Ra's said.

"Why did you welcome Darhk back with open arms?" Nyssa asked.

"The HIVE is at a vulnerable position, and I felt it would be in my benefit to assist them," Ra's said. "I understand you've been busy….you and my….chosen heir."

A coolness erupted in Ra's voice. Harry stepped into the picture.

"Do you have a problem with what I've done?" Harry asked.

"You've been trained by the best, but you have a lot to learn," Ra's said. He raised the sword for a brief second.

Harry stared at Ra's for a moment.

"You take back someone like Darhk who has betrayed you and the League, and will do so again. I've given up a lot to prepare to be your heir. I put myself before you. I've done everything I've been asked of me."

"You exceeded my expectations," Ra's said. He leaned closer to him. "But, there's much you need to understand. And as long as I breathe, I'm in charge of the League, you answer to me."

"I don't answer to any man," Harry said. "And your latest decision has made people question you."

"Allow them to question me in their minds, I understand I'm doing right," Ra's said. "And….you've overstepped the bounds of the authority I've given you."

"If I'm to become Ra's Al Ghul, I need to act as him," Harry said. "Ra's Al Ghul doesn't wait for anyone's approval. I made the decisions which was for the best of the future of the League."

"He's proven himself to be adept at leading," Nyssa said.

"His time will come, but he hasn't earned the right yet, "Ra's said. "I see I may have been premature at making him my heir. The torch will be yours."

Harry drew the sword of Godric Gryffindor and shattered Ra's sword in half with one shot.

"Beloved, at ease," Nyssa said.

"He thinks I have to wait for him to hand me the torch like a good little boy," Harry said. "He wants me to reach out and grab one of his imaginary brass rings."

Ra's stood back, and Ubu stood in front of him.

"Tell your mongrel not to get in my face," Harry said.

"Your training has made you bold," Ra's said. "But, remember who the master is."

Harry's eyebrow rose at the implication anyone thought themselves to be above him. Ra's Al Ghul might be the deadliest man on Earth, but Harry refused to stand by.

"If any member of the League has just cause to think you're not able to properly lead, they are to challenge you to a trial by combat. And you are duty bound to accept, or you will be forever dishonored in the eyes of the League."

Ra's eyes flickered shut for an instant as he looked over Harry. The Demon locked eyes with his heir for a moment.

"You've stepped up to the next level," Ra's said. "There's a part of me who approves of your actions. And another part of me who questions them."

"Well, we're going to see if you're right to question or not," Harry said.

"You've thrown down the gauntlet, and I accept," Ra's said. "If you think you have learned enough to be beat me, then so be it. Perhaps, you can. But, if you haven't, I'd better search for another heir."

Ra's stepped back for an instant.

"We fight at midnight."

"Gladly," Harry said. "I'm looking forward to seeing the look in your eyes before I decimate you."

"You speak with confidence," Ra's said. "I hope it doesn't cloud your judgment and your ability to triumph in battle. Until midnight, we part ways. The best of luck to all of you."

One might consider Harry throwing the challenge down to the Demon to be a claim of insanity. Even, Nyssa blinked and leaned in towards Harry.

"Are you certain you want to go through with this, beloved?" Nyssa asked.

"Even if I was anything less than certain, it's much too late to back down now. The gauntlet has been laid down."

Nyssa nodded. She understood there came a time where a new leader rose up. Her father's leadership brought people through some tough times. And brought even more tough times upon people, but regardless, the winds of change blew in the air.

"Do you think you can beat him?"

"I know, I can beat him."

* * *

Damien Darhk sat with his legs crossed in deep though in the quarters Ra's Al Ghul presented him. The man tilted back his head. His advisors moved around in the next room. Queen Bee sauntered into the room and leaned down to face him.

"Master?" Queen Bee asked.

"Yes, Queen Bee?" Darhk asked.

"Are you certain you want to go through with this?" Queen Bee asked.

"I understand your concern," Darhk said. "But, don't question my abilities in front of my subordinates ever again."

Darhk rose to his feet.

"You've come a long way, but you've got a long way to go. You don't understand what I do here."

"Many of us don't," Queen Bee said. "But, we can only guess you are attempting to acquire what belongs to you."

"The League of Assassins slipped out of my grip," Darhk said. "Ra's Al Ghul escaped me like a treacherous snake time and time again. I earned the spot as the head of the League. He should have never been given his role as the League."

The fact Darhk bowed before Ra's Al Ghul caused his stomach to twist. The nasty turn his stomach took continued to overwhelm him.

"I only kneeled before him, in an attempt to lull him into a false sense of security," Darhk said. "But, it turns out I may not get a chance to kill him. Should the Dragon defeat him in battle….my intentions shift to him."

"Do you have a contingency plan?" Queen Bee asked.

"I have my agents ready."

Darhk rose to his feet. The HIVE drones backed off for a second and stared him down. The leader of the HIVE rose to his feet, showcasing the full power he had.

"You doubt me, don't you? Because I kneeled before him, you doubt what I can do? You've forgotten it."

Darhk withdrew a sword from the sheath.

"Attack me."

The HIVE drones rushed Darhk. The high tech gear they wore should have in theory defeated a man with no gear, dressed in a hooded robe, and wielding a single sword. The HIVE leader punished his enemies, bringing them down to their knees.

"I can destroy you as I please," Darhk said. "None of you forget what I can do."

The HIVE drone collapsed to the ground, blood pouring from his mouth.

"And Ra's Al Ghul is nothing compared to my power."

Darhk took out the two drones behind him. He disarmed them in the most conventional way possible, by removing their arms.

"Is it wise to further dilute your for…"

Darhk lifted the blade at Queen Bee's throat. The woman took half of a step back and groaned.

"Don't question me again, Bee. This is your final warning."

"My apologies," Queen Bee said. "I will not forget my proper place again."

Darhk dropped the sword on the ground at her words. He relaxed, but stared her down.

"See, you never forget ever again. I value loyalty. And yours….has been suspect."

"Have I not done everything you've asked of me?" Queen Bee asked.

She touched her hand on the top of Darhk's. Darhk relaxed underneath her grip for a moment.

"Yes, you have," Darhk said. "But, remember, if you fail at one task, I will rip you from the throne."

Darhk prepared to watch the battle for control of the League. The victor, or what was left of the victor, would perish underneath his thumb.

The HIVE would remove the relics from the world, as intended. Darhk eagerly anticipated one of his grand enemies being wiped out by the other, and the second following.

Ra's didn't have tight control of his heir as Darhk assumed. The fact his heir would be allowed to run amuck caused Darhk's respect to Ra's to diminish.

Interest piqued as Darhk's plan reached a climax. Queen Bee's suggestions all made so much sense, to the extent where Darhk almost thought she manipulated him using her pheromones.

The HIVE leader disregarded the notion due to taking steps to guard himself from the pheromones some time ago.

* * *

Harry crouched in the darkened room. Cass approached him from behind. In an instant, Harry turned his head around to her.

"Reflexes are still on par," Cass said.

"Glad, you approve," Harry said.

"But will they be enough to triumph over the demon?" Cass asked.

"You seem like you have your own demons to worry about," Harry said. "You had a visitor on the boat. She is good enough to get past defenses."

"Yes, she is," Cass said. "Don't beat yourself up over your security failures. She is the best in the world for a reason."

"I'm glad," Harry said. "If I'm going to be beaten by anyone, I'd rather be beaten by someone who is competent. Do you have any idea what she's doing?"

"If I did, I wouldn't be so bothered," Cass said. "I was far gone before she sent me to Nanda Parbat."

"And look how much you flourished."

Nyssa turned up to enter the room. She crossed the room and made her stride over to Harry after a second.

"Both of you, you have flourished in your own ways, "Nyssa said.

"I'm sure you're going to look me in the eye, and question my sanity," Harry said. "From every angle, this looks like a plan which can blow up in all of your faces."

"Cassandra, can we have a moment?"

Cassandra eyeballed Nyssa. She left both Nyssa and Harry alone to their own devices.

The Daughter of the Demon looked at the man who would ascend to the head of the League after midnight tonight.

"My father changed much over the years," Nyssa said. "When I was young, I thought the ground he walked upon was sacred. He could do no wrong. But evidence began to present itself he could do much wrong. He admitted the mistake he made involving Darhk. If he killed Darhk, and not shown mercy, some lives would change for the better."

"And yet, I wouldn't be here if he had killed Darhk," Harry said.

"Maybe, we can't play such a game though," Nyssa said. "And, you standing up to replay my father was inevitable. I admit…..I had thoughts of one day challenging him and defeating him to become the head of the League of Assassins. But, it wasn't to be, was it?"

"You might have succeeded," Harry said. "If you wanted to pull the trigger."

"If I wanted to," Nyssa said. "You act as if I had any kind of choice in the matter. But, today I look at you. At first, you were a roadblock to my destiny. But, now you're worthy….but don't grow soft on me."

Harry reached and grabbed Nyssa. He leaned towards her.

"Don't worry. I can't grow soft without you to keep me on my toes."

"Excellent," Nyssa said. "Are you ready to face your destiny?"

"I've been waiting my entire life for this point," Harry said. "Keep both eyes on Darhk for me."

"As you wish."

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty-Four: Crossroads.**

* * *

Ra's Al Ghul moved himself out of the temple after a long day of contemplation. He never expected his chosen heir to return and challenge him for battle. The man thought, Nyssa may have nudged Harry forward. The young man prepared to swoop down and take control of the League. He didn't understand taking control of the League wasn't as easy said as thought.

"So, time has passed like this," Ra's said. "He has made his choice, and I have made mine. It's time to see whether or not he is worthy."

One of two outcomes would occur. Ra's stepped into the picture. Either the young man would prove Ra's correct he had been a worthy heir. Or the young man would prove Ra's wrong and would fall down.

One thing would occur, and Ra's braced himself for what would occur next. The Demon swept in with a frown over his face. The man crept into the picture, tightening his hands around the sword as he approached.

Harry Potter walked out. Ra's noticed his daughter following behind the Dragon. A true changing of the guards took place. The Demon sized up his enemy.

"It's not too late for you to back out," Ra's said.

"I've made my decision," Harry said. "If I back out now, I will be dishonored in the eyes of the League. If I can't beat you, I'm not worthy of becoming the head of the League. I'm not worthy of the moniker of the demon."

"I've heard the stories of you, how much you wish you want to prove," Ra's said. "You've managed to escape perilous situations in the past. Despite my respect for your durability, I'm not going to go easy on you."

"I'm glad you won't insult me by holding back," Harry said. "Whenever I defeat you, I want it to be Ra's Al Ghul at his best. And I need to do it now, before you succumb to the ravages of ages. You don't have much time before you turn into a withered old man again. You're at your peak."

Ra's ignored the slight, mostly because his words proved to be true. The latest trip to the Pit envigorated him, but he already felt a few aches and pains more than he didn't. And the trip to the pit occurred less than six months ago. He normally survived up to around eight or nine months.

The need for a heir reached him. His entire life of building the League would fall apart.

"We're to fight tonight," Ra's said. "Midnight approaches. It's your final chance to back out."

"No," Harry said.

Ra's turned his head and walked up. Ubu followed him, growling when he passed the HIVE council who watched the battle as guests.

Nyssa gripped Harry's hand for a second, before she release it. Harry walked up to the circle where Ra's stepped inside.

"Tonight, we have an event which has not happened in almost three decades," Ra's said. "I have sought long and hard for the heir to step up and pass the League to the future. Many heirs have fallen before their second stage of training has begun. I have slain some for weaknesses, others didn't even have the honor. Their bodies gave out."

The League remained silent. Ra's Al Ghul continued his words.

"Never has an heir achieved as much where he would challenge me to a trial by combat," Ra's said. "I expect tonight I will be proven correct about my choice, or once again, disappointment will reach me regarding the young man before him. Is he the man many think him to be? Is he the fabled Dragon?

The League all turned into a silent hush at the thought of the young man before him being the fabled legend of yore.

"Tonight, we'll find out," Ra's said. "Let us all bow our heads for a moment of silence and allow a blessing. Tonight will be a new rising, or a sudden demise. But, let it be known, Ra's Al Ghul doesn't relinquish control of the League of Assassins to those who don't earn it."

Harry smiled for a second. The priestess approached the podium and inclined her head for a moment. The League all bowed their heads respectfully.

Most would be intimidated by the spectacle. Harry wasn't intimidated. If he wanted to control the League in his way, any obstacles would need to be eliminated. The one who stood before him to be eliminated the most was the one and only Ra's Al Ghul.

"Let us duel, Dragon."

"Indeed, Demon," Harry said.

* * *

The two gentlemen stepped into the center ring. Ra's Al Ghul inclined his head, never taking his hands off of the young man. The handsome sword he carried looked to be one of elegant marksmanship.

Should he win, the sword would at least receive a place of honor. Ra's motioned for Harry to rush forward.

Harry swiped the sword at him. Ra's dodged the attack, and tried a series of rapid fire blows to Harry. Ra's moved quicker than the eye for someone of his advanced age and indeed, quicker than magic.

His attempt of a stinger spell flew over Ra's. Ra's drilled him with a jab punch. The Demon nailed Harry in the collarbone and dropped him to his knees.

Ra's caught Harry with a glancing blow with the sword, cutting his cheek open. The second blow dodged by Harry. The shield proved to be inefficient to block solid options. Or the sword's properties sliced through the shield. Either way Harry sliced it, Ra's worked his way past the shield and almost nailed Harry with a glancing blow.

"And again," Ra's said.

The Demon attempted to take Harry out. Harry raised the sword, and blocked the attacks. Ra's moved in and caught him with a violent stabbing motion.

The sword impaled Harry's shoulder. Harry doubled over for a second.

"Foolish boy, you thought you could defeat me," Ra's said. Ra's dodged Harry's sloppy attack for a moment. Ra's moved around and started to punch away at Harry, bringing him for the kill. "You got greedy. The common problem for many who face off against the Demon."

"It's not greed, it's strategy," Harry said.

Ra's moved in for a killing shot, only for Harry to avoid the swing of the sword. The blade slammed down onto the ground. Harry propelled himself into the air.

The swords clashed together. Harry exerted a bit of his will against Ra's.

Harry dodged each attempt for Ra's to cut him like a well practiced routine. He mentally counted out the numbers and the angles each sword swipe would swing before he did it. The moment Ra's tangled himself up, Harry brought the sword of Godric Gryffindor into Ra's blade. The worn and well-made blade shattered when Gryffindor's smashed through it like a hot knife through butter.

Ra's Al Ghul staggered back from Harry nailing him with a glancing blow with the blade. The Demon propelled himself into the air and avoided the attack of the blade one more time.

The second he withdrew an alternate weapon, Harry slammed the blade through the weapon again. The Sword of Gryffindor sliced through Ra's cloak, bringing him down to the ground.

"Anti-magic guard, clever," Harry said. "Would work well against an enemy who used magic as a clutch."

Harry brought the sword into Ra's sword, drawing blood. The Demon dropped to his knees in an agonizing pain. He pushed himself up, and continued for a brief battle. The two continued their hand to hand combat with each other.

Ra's lost a fair amount of blood. A magical sword created a wound which continued to gush blood. Ra's staggered over towards a healer which waited for him.

"To the death, Demon."

Harry brought him down to the ground. Ra's pushed him back. Fists and feel swirled, with Harry hoisting Ra's up off of the ground and driving him down to the ground.

"The master has many lessons to learn," Harry said. "But, you won't live long enough to live them. You've cheated Death for too long."

"I must have….I built a world," Ra's said.

"And I build mine," Harry said. Another stab of the Sword of Gryffindor ripped Ra's arm off.

Blood splattered everywhere as Harry dismantled him. Blue energy swirled from around Harry's hand.

"May you have peace in the next life," Harry said. "And may I bring you greatness in your afterlife."

Ra's hung his head and said a few quick words for mercy.

"Ra's Al Ghul will never die," Ra's said.

"Only the man who holds the mantle," Harry said. "But, I will be the last. Even though you were among the greatest."

Harry pushed his hand through Ra's chest and ripped his soul from his body. Ra's body spontaneously combusted into black hot fire, and the flames scorched his body. The burst of power Harry exhibited terrified everyone.

Nyssa watched, eyes widened. Her father's body crumbled into ash. The new leader turned around, and turned to the League. All of them backed down, not wanting to question Harry after such a display of power.

"I've won."

The Demon's ashes blew into the wind. His spirit sucked into the afterlife. The blood of the demon tainted the Sword of Godric Gryffindor for a brief moment. The cleaning spells placed upon the armor disappeared.

Damien Darhk looked down. The HIVE goons all looked at him in horror. Darhk prepared for his move, but hesitated.

"Leave," Darhk said. "We need to leave."

Damien Darhk created his own monster with his manipulations in the wizarding world. The HIVE leave prepared to depart for a moment.

Queen Bee sat, in amusement. The show would be about ready to begin, especially with HIVE and their goons about ready to leave.

An arrow caught one of the HIVE goons in the back of the neck. Blood gushed out of the back of his neck when the HIVE goon landed over the railing. Another figure swooped, and brought a dagger into the throat of one of the goons.

Queen Bee smiled and directed one of the HIVE goons to throw himself off of a really high spot. The man impaled himself on several jagged rocks. The rocks ripped through his chest, causing the blood to spill from him.

Harry walked up to join her.

"Master, Darhk has slipped out like the snake he is."

"He will not leave, Nanda Parbat, alive," Nyssa said. "He has many crimes to pay for."

"Yes," Harry said.

The only problem appeared to be Darhk slipped out of the scene like a snake and quite the slippery snake as well.

"Cass, Nyssa, you help Sara, and Rose," Harry said. "I'm going after him. I have a good idea where he might be going."

Darhk scrambled to a secret exit out of Nanda Parbat. After his first escape, he understood the area about as well as anyone else would.

The Dragon stalked him in the darkness. He lost pretty much everything other than his life and feared for what would come next.

A figure more fearsome than the Dragon approached Darhk and made her way down the tunnel after him. Darhk might have given the Dragon and his group the slip, but she enjoyed the hunt.

* * *

Lady Shiva waited, having watched the fight for the control of the League from afar. The relationship between her and the man known as Ra's Al Ghul was really tense at best. She worked with Ra's when their goals aligned. When their goals didn't align, the two of them allowed themselves at their own devices.

Cassandra's father was public enemy number two in the League, right behind Damien Darhk. Ra's despised David Cain's training methods regarding his daughter and considered them to be little below barbarism.

Lady Shiva refused to miss the aftermath and the show which would follow. Darhk helped Cassandra's father in the past.

"Yes, as predicted," Lady Shiva said.

The man who eluded Ra's Al Ghul and many others for so long made his gravest mistake by showing up on Nanda Parbat. Lady Shiva waited like a cat stalking her prey. Ready to pounce at the perfect opportunity.

' _He won't escape, not this time. Darhk has crimes to answer for, and those of a personal nature as well.'_

Lady Shiva's fist curled up into a ball and she waited for Darhk to pass down the hallway. Darhk crossed the hallway and made his way past the alcove where Shiva hid out. The man didn't even bother to check his surroundings.

It defied all explanation someone who had been so great at one time had made so many mistakes. Shiva didn't understand, but the woman would take a look at him and figure it out.

Darhk almost escaped, the key word being almost. Something rather skilled hit him from behind and brought him down to the ground.

The assassin reached into his overcoat, and tried to withdraw a weapon. Only to find his weapon being disarmed, along with his hand being sliced after the blade connected. The man dropped to the ground, riding in pain. He rolled over, blood spilling from the rip in his hand.

The sword brought to his throat caused him to look up. He stared down the face many men have stared before death, Lady Shiva.

"So, the Dragon hired you to ensure I didn't leave Nanda Parbat," Darhk said.

"You speak to me, knowing your next words could mean the difference between a quick death and an agonizing one," Lady Shiva said. "And the Dragon didn't hire me. I'm doing a service, and not for him, but for myself. I understand you have information for me."

"And if I don't…"

"You shouldn't insult my intelligence," Lady Shiva said. The blade pressed closer to his jugular vein. "It seldom ends well for the men or women who do so."

Damien Darhk realized not only Lady Shiva breathed down his neck, but the Dragon would have followed once he finished off the HIVE.

"I can make you a deal, if you'd allow me to pass," Darhk said.

"Depends on if you can answer one simple question," Lady Shiva said. "Then I will allow you to pass."

"Ask it, hurry, he's coming," Darhk said.

Lady Shiva's eyebrows rose at the man demanding her. No man demanded her to be honest. Her hand clutched against the sword.

"Where is David Cain? I know you have had dealing with him and I expect you to give me an answer immediately."

Darhk tried to twist out of his position, talk about a hell of a position to twist out of.

"Ten seconds to talk."

"He's in Starling City," Darhk said. "He's….well Malcolm Merlyn employed his services. If you want to know any more, than Merlyn is the man to speak."

"Yes, the Magician, I'm aware of who he is," Lady Shiva said. "And I also know how adept he is of worming his way out of punishment for his crimes. The Demon's second greatest failing was not exterminating him when he had the chance."

Lady Shiva tightened the grip around the sword. For the briefest of second, Damien Darhk relaxed against her grip.

"The greatest failing is one I shall exterminate right here on this day. Goodbye, Mr. Darhk."

Lady Shiva stabbed Darhk with the sword. She cut him in the most fatal area possible. Life extinguished from his eyes.

She turned around, to see the Dragon approach her. The deadliest woman alive turned, as calm and collected as could be.

"If you're looking for Darhk, he's bleeding on the floor," Lady Shiva said. "And now he's gone. I told him I would allow him to pass if I gave me information, and….I'm a woman of my world."

Harry stepped over for a second. His eyes narrowed. A quick verification indicated Darhk had been sent on his way.

"All debts have been cleared, so now the slate is clean as the League steps forward in a brave new era."

Harry turned his attention around to Lady Shiva. No sooner did she say those words, she disappeared off into the night.

Cass, Nyssa, Rose, Sara, and Artemis arrived down the tunnel. Rose looked at the slain form of Darhk. Triumph spread through the eyes of the woman at the demise of the deranged individual.

"He's gone," Rose said.

"Yes, Lady Shiva got to him before we could," Harry said.

"You saw her?" Cass asked. "You spoke with her?"

Harry gripped Cass's hand. The young warrior looked unhinged which looked to be out of character for her.

"Yes, I spoke with her," Harry said. "And she said since she killed Darhk, the slate is clean and all debts are settled."

"I wasn't aware Lady Shiva incurred any debts with the League," Nyssa said. "Unless she referred to Cassandra being taken into the League to undo the damage of her father's training."

"Yes, she must have been referring to that," Cass said.

The woman's tone looked rather clipped and continued to search the tunnels.

"So, I hate to ask this….but does she have issues with her mother?" Sara asked.

"Not as much as she does with her father," Nyssa said.

"I can relate," Rose said.

"She wants to kill her father for what he's done to her," Nyssa said.

"Again, I can relate," Rose said. "Although it's not what my father has done, but what he'll end up doing."

Harry frowned.

"He hasn't done it yet, so don't punish him for the events in a vision," Harry said. He grabbed Rose's hand with his free hand which Cass pulled away from. "Visions have been proven to be wrong."

"My visions have been accurate," Rose said. "But, I'll respect your wishes, since you asked me….but remember I hope to get some of the perks the League members receive. If you're going to train me to be a part of the League."

Rose leaned forward to press her firm teenage breasts against Harry's shoulder.

"I think I need some release, it might ease up on the anger."

Harry looked at the young girl. The way she pressed up against him, especially with his adrenaline pumping after the battle.

"Wait up in my quarters, I'll talk to you later," Harry said.

"I'm not sure how much talking we're going to do, but…as you command, master," Rose said.

She shifted off, making sure to sway her ass. Harry looked towards Sara, who shrugged.

"She knows what she wants," Sara said. "And I can't say I blame her for wanting what she wants."

The serum combined with a life debt pretty much proved to be a potent combination indeed.

* * *

Nyssa and Harry walked on the grounds of Nanda Parbat. The future of the League hung in the balance and Harry figured the Daughter of the Demon would be the best sounding board of them all.

"Most of them are in shock, and many of them are in mourning," Nyssa said. "I won't lie to you, and tell you, just by defeating Ra's Al Ghul, the League will fall into your hands. My father held the mantle for a long time. He has a few loyalists, who will plot your demise and his resurrection."

"I thought I made it clear there's no way he'll be revived," Harry said.

Nyssa reached over to clasp his hand.

"One thing you shouldn't underestimate is the devotion fanatics could have, it's beyond all reason," Nyssa said. "Having acquired a few fanatics of your own, I would think you would understand better than anyone else."

Harry smiled. The two of them enjoyed the night, or rather it was early morning now.

"So, Lady Shiva," Harry said.

"You'd like me to ask you for advice on her," Nyssa said. She leaned in close so only Harry could hear her. "I won't mince words. She is one of the few people on this planet who terrify me. She's dangerous, and for a good reason. She's earned her reputation. And you'd be better off to have her on her side."

"Dangerous, but gorgeous," Harry said.

"You really can't….you really can't think she would bend to your will," Nyssa said.

"Do you doubt me?" Harry asked. "She might be the deadliest woman on earth, but the key word is woman. She has desires, even if she ignores them."

"Well, you shoot high," Nyssa said. "I'm rounding up everyone. Sara is making sure the HIVE didn't leave us any nasty surprises, and….I'd like to give her a hand."

Harry and Nyssa exchanged a kiss. Tonight proved to be a very beneficial night, but tonight was only step one towards a glorious future. One Harry vowed to build with an army of beautiful and dangerous women standing by his side.

The new head of the League of Assassins walked to his quarters. A light already turned on. Harry stepped into the room.

"Hello, Harry."

Rose spoke in a low and seductive growl. The sixteen year old woman dressed in a sheer nightdress which didn't leave too much to the imagination. It displayed her nice round breasts, with nipples poking out obscenely. Harry noticed her tone fit body underneath the nightdress. She filled out a lot from the waif they encountered on the Amazo. Her legs stretched down forever.

"So, did you take me up on my offer?" Rose asked.

"Are you going to obey me?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Rose said. "Maybe you should give me a spanking for me getting out of line. Maybe you should be my new Daddy."

Rose pressed against Harry's body. She ran her hands down his body and cupped his crotch.

"Maybe, you can show Mommy what a real man can do to her," Rose said. She smiled as she looked at him. "It would really show Slade who the superior man is, if you made her feel things he couldn't. I'm not even sure if he can get it up anymore. But, it doesn't matter, because you can."

Rose ripped off Harry's pants to reveal the prize inside.

"I'll come back later."

Cassandra stood in front of the door. Rose made her way over with surprising speed. She caught Cass and pulled her into the room.

"No, you fucking stay," Rose said. "If anyone needs to get laid even more than I do, it's you."

Cass struggled against Rose's grip. Rose shoved her tongue in Cass's mouth, working her way into it.

Every second Rose kissed her, it made Cass lose sight of her inhibitions more. The warrior training she underwent to remain focused really strained underneath Rose practically molesting her.

Rose pulled away from Cass's lips, and stopped short of marking her neck.

"So, do you want the first lick, or should I?"

Harry grabbed Rose by the waist, and ripped her nightdress off.

"It seems like the Mirakuru triggered a nice little reaction….."

"Oh, I've had this sex drive long before the chemical," Harry said. "And you're going to shut up and suck my cock, because you wanted it."

"Yes, master."

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Public.**

* * *

Laurel pounded away at a bag. She channeled all of the aggressions she experienced over the last couple of months after the accident. Barbara watched Laurel's intensity. Her anger flashed through her eyes. Barbara leaned against the bench, and sighed.

"Okay, don't bite my head off, or knock it off," Barbara said. "But, what did the poor innocent bag ever do to you?"

Laurel's eyes turned towards her. She took a few breaths and made her way to the bench. Barbara handed her a towel and Laurel wiped off her face.

"It's final, between Mom and Dad….they're calling it off," Laurel said.

"What, did Oliver cheat on you with your mother as well?" Barbara asked.

Laurel choked on the water she drank at Barbara's words. Barbara leaned forward and kicked her on the shoulder. The woman shook her head, eyes watering.

"Did you have to say something like that when I was drinking?" Laurel asked.

"Too soon?" Barbara asked.

"Much too soon," Laurel said. "Yeah, I don't know what's going on with them, I never thought they were having any problems. But, Sara being on the boat strained everything. If it wasn't for you, I'd go nuts."

"Hey, happy to help," Barbara said. "But….I've got to return to Gotham next week."

Laurel sighed.

"Yeah, I know, I enjoyed the vacation," Barbara said. "But, I have to return home, The Captain would kill me if I didn't go back and finish my studies at GCU."

"Captain….I thought your father was a Lieutenant?" Laurel asked.

"He got promoted, Captain James Gordon, of the Special Crimes Unit of the Gotham City police department," Barbara said. "Of course, I don't know if it's as much of a promotion, as in….someone in the department really hoping he ends up getting killed."

Barbara's worry shined through her voice. Laurel reached towards Barbara, placing her hand onto Barbara's and pulling her over.

"Special crimes in Gotham City really go underneath the weird and the mysterious," Barbara said.

"Well, tell him congratulations, I think," Laurel said.

The door of the gym opened up. Barbara looked up. After the encounter with Lady Shiva, paranoia visited her body.

Just because she's paranoid, doesn't mean they weren't out to get her, at least what Barbara thought. Living her entire life in Gotham City, where locking your doors several times was an action which was all but beaten into her.

Barbara's eyes widened for a second.

"Wow," Laurel said. "I didn't….I've never seen him around town."

Barbara's mouth hung open for a few seconds. The tall young man with slightly unruly black hair and green eyes entered. He dressed in a tank top and tight leather pants as he entered the room, leaned for a few seconds.

"No, you haven't….but….he's been all over the news," Barbara said. "Do you know who he is?"

"Excuse me, can you ladies point me to the front desk?"

Barbara sat up straight and tried to act as if wasn't just talking to the young man.

"Um, yeah, it's right there," Barbara said. "Why do you need to know?"

"Barbara!" Laurel yelled. "Don't be….don't be….I'm really sorry for my friend. There are times where she's a bit too nosy for her own good."

The young man chuckled in response. Barbara shook her head in response.

"I understand curiosity," he said. "My name is Harry Potter."

"I know, you're Harry Potter," Barbara said. "Laurel, he's Harry Potter!"

"Yes, so I heard," Laurel said. "It's a pleasure to meet you Harry. My name is Dinah, Dinah Lance, but everyone calls me Laurel, to back off on the confusion of my mother, who I was named after. This is Barbara Gordon, and don't mind her, she likes to stick her foot in her mouth so often you'd think she'd have the taste of sole in it too often."

Barbara crossed her arms across her chest.

"You really have no idea how big this is?" Barbara asked.

"Oh, he's…the heir to the Evans business empire, and the owner of the Shining Light Enterprises technology company," Laurel said.

Barbara opened her mouth and shut it. Harry smiled.

"Guilty as charged," Harry said. "And….is your sister Sara Lance?"

Laurel tried to act as polite as possible.

"Yes, so you've heard about it," Laurel said. "I'm surprised you did, she gets the brush off, when Oliver gets all of the news."

"Do you think she's dead?" Harry asked.

"I….I don't really know," Laurel said.

The woman wondered what she was thinking. She talked to a stranger rather frankly.

"Well, just keep waiting, and one day she might come home to you," Harry said. "And whatever issues you have, they can be dealt with. Until then, live your life the best you can, and show life won't get you down."

Laurel smiled. She knew he was trying to be nice and lift her spirits. Which she needed, and hoped his words to be accurate.

"And to answer your question, the gym is selling me some of their extra equipment," Harry said. "I'm going to set up shop here."

"Really, Starling of all places?" Laurel asked. "Wouldn't a place like Metropolis or Central City be a better place for a world class technology company?"

"At least you didn't say Gotham," Barbara said.

"Well, there are worse options," Laurel said.

"What like Bludhaven?" Barbara asked. "Because, Bludhaven makes Gotham look like Metropolis."

"I think you're exaggerating a little bit," Laurel said. Barbara crossed her arms and frowned. "Okay, maybe not, but still."

Harry smiled and decided to give his answering.

"While I do have connections in Metropolis and Gotham, among other cities, I want to start here," Harry said. "It's a strategic location, and ripe to have something built for the ground up. Queen and Merlyn are two of the bigger companies in the city, and there's a need for competition."

"Well, I wish the best of luck to you," Laurel said.

"I'm sure I'm going to see a lot more of both of you, if I'm around the town," Harry said. "In fact, I'm having a press conference tomorrow afternoon, if you want to attend, I have a couple of spare tickets for you."

Barbara smiled, it would work out well. She left back to Gotham City in a couple of days.

A second later, both of them looked at Harry, who vanished into the office.

"So, what do you think of him?" Barbara asked.

"Is it bad I'm intrigued?" Laurel asked. "Do you think I'm just reaching out for a rebound on purpose?"

"Nah, more like an upgrade," Barbara said.

* * *

Since her trip on the island, Kara allowed herself a bit of time to think. Her powers underneath the yellow sun lead to even more growing pains than a normal unpowered teenager said.

She reminded herself in the words of the dragon.

' _Some people are destined to be great,'_ Kara thought.

The pendant he gave her rested from her neck. It allowed her to feel a bit more ease with who she was.

Kara relaxed as she flipped through the channels.

"Shouldn't you be doing your homework?"

Kara turned around and noticed Alex standing there. The dark haired young woman approached Kara and sat down on the couch.

"Shouldn't you be working?" Kara asked. "And for your information, I have another few days before I have to dumb myself down and go to high school."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Alex said. "I understand what it's like to not work at your full ability. School can be more frustrating when you….."

"Have to dumb yourself down?" Kara asked.

"Yes, I know, advanced race, with advanced science," Alex said. "Are your door knobs even more advanced than anything on Earth?"

"I don't know, we evolved beyond door knobs like before I was born," Kara said. She shifted herself. "Then again, Earth's evolved a lot beyond what we thought. So, our studies were woefully out of date. Then again, the Council didn't know their own head from a hole in Kandor."

Alex bit her tongue to prevent saying what she thought. She needed to remain professional, even if a critique of the United States government danced on the tip of her tongue.

"Does it hurt to bite your tongue?"

Alex closed her eyes.

"You literally bit your tongue," Kara said. "I mean, it doesn't hurt for me…."

"Yes, you dumped scalding coffee all over yourself, and you were more annoyed your shirt was ruined," Alex said.

"Hey, I liked my shirt," Kara said.

"You don't even have to worry about acne," Alex said. "Other than the pimple right there."

"Where?" Kara asked, bouncing up in the air.

Alex smiled in response.

"Seriously, I'm going to have to do a background check on any guy who comes near you," Alex said. "Just to be on the safe side."

"Oh, you're beautiful too, Alex, don't sell yourself short," Kara said. "I would go out with you…if I was a guy, and not your sister. Both those things which are taboo on Earth, aren't they?"

"Well, depends on what part of the world you're in," Alex said. "Oh, it's today, isn't it?"

"What's today?" Kara asked.

"The press conference with the Shining Light Enterprises, where Harry Potter is going to make a big announcement," Alex said.

"No, seriously, you know Harry Potter," Kara said.

"Well, I know of him, he's famous," Alex said. "Not to mention on about ten government watch lists as well, because he's a Class-W meta."

Kara raised her eyebrow.

"A wand waver, someone who can perform magic with a wand," Alex said. "Not he needs a wand, because….he's powerful, really powerful."

"You're not going to take him off somewhere and interrogate him, are you?" Kara asked.

"Well, it's tempting to take him off somewhere," Alex said. She stole a look at the young man on the television screen. Even behind a screen, he captivated pretty much any woman. "For intense interrogation, one on one where I try and pump him for information, really undercover type stuff."

Alex smiled at the thought of it. Then again, most other red-blooded women, no matter what race, shared a similar fantasy.

"Well, he's not….he's not bad," Kara said.

"No, he's not too bad on the eyes," Alex said.

"Hey, I saw him first," Kara said.

"How could you see him first, if we just both saw him on the television?" Alex asked. "You've met him before."

"I didn't say I met him," Kara said.

"Are the rumors Harry Potter was sighted on Lian yu credible then?" Alex asked. "And were the rumors a blonde blur was sighted flying on her way to Lian Yu credible?"

"What's a Lian Yu?"

Alex raised her eyebrow, and frowned.

"Kara, don't ever get yourself captured and interrogated. You're crack underneath interrogation."

"I think he got stranded there, for something," Kara said. "Maybe those wizard people left him for dead. Maybe he saw something he shouldn't."

Alex took a moment to consider it.

"You might be right, Kara," Alex said.

Kara tried not to betray her sigh of relief. She didn't want to explain the alien ship.

"But it doesn't answer the question of why you flew all the way out there?"

"I think the press conference is starting," Kara said.

"Yes, I want to hear it," Alex said. "But, when there's a commercial, we'll be talking about it. I covered for you with our parents, so I think you owe me one."

Kara cracked under the guilt trip.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"What, Kara?"

"What really happened the day of the meteor shower fifteen years ago? You know, in Smallville."

"Still classified," Alex said. "I want to tell you, if it was up to me."

Kara groaned, shaking her head. She looked to the screen where Harry Potter stepped up.

"Starling City, people are wondering, why would I start here of all places? Why not Metropolis? Or Central City? Or even Gotham City? Success there is like shooting fish in a barrel, and believe me, they are avenues which are untapped. But, the future starts now and the future starts here in this city."

* * *

Adeline watched Harry's speech and she doubted very much she was the only one taking a close watch at Harry's speech. The young man approached her after the speech wrapped up.

"So, Slade and Oliver?"

"Safely on the island," Adeline said. "They'll get off eventually, you know."

"Maybe they will, maybe they won't," Harry said. "Unless you have something to tell me."

Adeline made a split decision she should give Harry the head's up, based on the fact he saved her daughter's life. Therefore she owed him a lot.

"Amanda Waller knew the moment the ship went down Oliver went down on the island," Adeline said.

"And yet, ARGUS didn't rescue him," Harry said. "Waller has plans."

"Waller plays her cards close to her chest," Adeline said. "I'd be warned, she's extremely interested in seeing what you're up to."

"Just merely trying to change the world," Harry said. "And believe me, some government agency which lacks transparency is not something I'm in the mood to deal with right now."

"Yes, I know, and believe me, you and Waller are bound to butt heads," Adeline said. The woman chose her next few words with care. "She does things for a greater good."

Harry frowned. Talk about an expression which defined the actions of many people. The greater good, Harry recalled all of the times where things were done for the greater good in his life. Dumbledore never once uttered those words, at least in Harry's line of hearing. And to be fair to Dumbledore, the HIVE built up in as a great leader, only to cut his strings like a puppet when he served his usefulness.

"Waller is intimidated by you, just a little bit," Adeline said. "She won't say it, but some of the precautions she's taking, she's treating you like a really big threat."

"And it's good she is," Harry said. "She should be afraid of what I can do to someone like her."

Adeline shivered, glad she didn't incur Harry's wrath. Good thing she stood on his side.

"Won't you get in trouble talking to me? "Harry asked.

Adeline responded by shaking her head. She leaned closer towards Harry.

"She actually wanted me to be your official liaison, to keep an eye on you. Given you're establishing a more public presence."

Harry figured about as much.

"And you're the best of several options, I think," Harry said. "Tell Waller if she doesn't get in my way, I won't get in hers."

"She won't like you directly challenging you like that," Adeline said.

Harry smirked in response. If Waller didn't like him directly challenging her, the feeling looked to be really mutual. Harry didn't like people challenging him like Waller him like this.

"So, the Ministry is being take under wing by our counterparts in Britain," Adeline said. "So, if you don't want to deal with those people, you don't have to."

Harry didn't want to deal with them again. He did everything and done everyone he wanted to do. It was time for Harry to move on.

"Good, I'm glad they're being brought in line. About time someone did."

* * *

Lady Shiva stuck close enough to the shadows where she would not be seen. David Cain, the father of her daughter, holed up somewhere, likely with his connections. She would remove those connections one by one, until it was time to flush him out.

She made her way down a dark alleyway and found herself face to face with a pair of green eyes. The woman stepped back, with a respectful moment, but withdrew her sword.

"Allow me to pass, Dragon."

"David Cain has harmed one of my own," Harry said. "Therefore, your mission is my mission."

"Yes, Cassandra opened up and told you, didn't she?" Shiva asked. "It took her several years before the damage had been undone. We might have avoided the anguish if she had been thrown into the Lazarus Pit."

"Or caused even more," Harry said.

"Yes, or caused even more," Shiva said. "I'm not going to mince words, my daughter didn't have a happy childhood. And I'm sure you can relate."

Shiva withdrew her sword for a second. Harry withdrew his. The two of them circled each other in the alleyway.

"You must have done your homework," Harry said.

"I wanted to know a little about the man you were before rebirth," Shiva said. "When others find out, your remaining blood relatives will not last the night."

"I'll send flowers to their graves if someone were to off them," Harry said.

The two moved in and the swords clashed together. Shiva's blade showcased strength, but Harry's power overwhelmed the woman for a second.

Shiva jumped into the air behind Harry. The two of them locked swords once again, evenly matched with each other. She snapped off a kick, which knocked the wind out of him.

"But, I have one last promise I need to fulfill," Shiva said. "I promised my daughter when I dropped her off at Nanda Parbat, I would make it right. Over a decade has passed, and Darhk has given me the only lead possible on Cain."

Harry made his way behind Shiva, grabbing her arms and twisting them behind her back.

"If you think he's telling the truth…..Darhk is a master of deception."

"Perhaps," Shiva said. "But, I disagree in a sense. The look in his eyes showed he told the truth. Recall him if you don't believe me."

Shiva broke free from Harry's grip. The two engaged into a bit more sword play with each other.

"I do enjoy fighting against somewhere where I can stretch my legs," Shiva said. "And you might take this piece of information I uncovered with interest."

"What?" Harry asked.

He backed her against the wall for a second. Shiva slackened, but Harry remained on his guard.

"Cain is working with the same group who was responsible for the Queen's Gambit being sabotaged. The people who poisoned this city, and padded their pockets with their ill-gotten gains."

Harry paused for a second, and it allowed Shiva to kick him away. The two of them engaged in a rapid fire exchange of attacks, both of them connecting.

"Take what you will from my warning," Shiva said. "And, I'm certain you're going to want the other one. As a curiosity, I've already planted a seed in her mind which will lead her down a path."

With her words, Shiva slipped into the shadows. Harry allowed her to leave for now. They would run into each other once more all too soon.

' _And my type seems to be the hot and dangerous type, who knew?'_ Harry asked. _'I should have figured it out a long time ago, but still.'_

* * *

Thea Queen knew she was way past her curfew, but she didn't care. The tension between her and mother was pretty much at a cold war level. The real problem, as Thea saw it, was all of the time she spent meeting with Mr. Merlyn. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what the two of them were up to.

Her father and brother might be dead, although there was a part of her who didn't believe it. Regardless, Thea made her way across town. She waited at the bus stop for a bus to come.

She caught sight at the sign and realized the bus didn't stop here this late at night. The girl threw her hands into the air in frustration.

' _Just great, guess I'm walking home,'_ Thea said. _'Or hope I can get a taxi.'_

Thea went for her cellphone, but a young man with several piercings bumped her and sent her into the alleyway. His three friends entered.

"Out a bit late for a stroll, aren't you?" the man asked.

' _Great, a bunch of thugs, just what I need right now.'_

The teenager stood as tall as possible looking them in the eye. One of them took a switch blade and put at her throat.

"Look, what do you want?" Thea asked. "Because, if you want money, I'll give you money, as long as you all just fuck off."

"Oh, she's a big tough girl, isn't she?" one of the gang bangers asked. "Look at her clothes, she must have the money."

"Yeah, no one but a rich bitch wears clothes this tacky," the gang banger said. "Look at this necklace, it's faker than my wife's tits."

"But, I bet it's worth a fortune, because the rich bitch said so," the gang banger said. "Thought she'd be taught some manners, but I guess, we're going to teach a lesson."

Thea tried to get away, by kicking one of the thugs in the stones. She managed to get away, but a pair of strong hangs grabbed her.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy sending it back to your rich bitch parents. You picked the wrong side of town to go through b…."

The thug fell over. Thea winced, rubbing her bruised neck where she grabbed it. Thea looked up, in time to see a pair of arrows sail over her and strike two of the goons in the chest, doubling her over.

The lead gang banger rose up to his feet, but an arrow impaled him. Blood spurted everywhere when he doubled over.

The sounds of sirens echoed, and Thea staggered out into the middle of the street, waving her hands.

A police car pulled out.

"They…tried to mug me," Thea said. "But someone…shot them….with arrows."

The teenager stood up in defiance, trying not to sound too hysterical, even if her voice cracked. Thea wouldn't look weak in front of the police.

"Figured a Queen couldn't stay out of trouble for more than five minutes."

Thea tried to look for her savior, but said savior disappeared into the night.

* * *

A woman dressed in a green hood with tight green pants made her way over the rooftop. Sara and Harry waited for her in the shadows.

"What are the odds you run into Thea?" Sara asked.

"Pretty high apparently," Artemis said, pulling the hood on. "She's in good hands, the police picked her up, and the bastards who tried to mug her….well they won't be hurting anyone, any more."

"Good, I'm glad," Sara said. "Keep an eye on her, why don't you?"

"So, you're going to make me babysit the other Queen, now," Artemis said. "Since, when have I become the babysitter for the rich and famous?"

"Artemis, I need you to get close to her," Harry said. "We need to find out what happened, and where we can find Cain."

"Do you really think my father's involved with this entire mess as well?" Artemis asked.

"You never know," Harry said. "But, keep your eye on the ball."

Artemis nodded, for Harry she would do about as much. She needed to figure out to make her civilian identity befriend Thea Queen.

"She does have a knack for archery," Sara said. "So, you have about as much in common."

"Handy information to know, I think," Harry said.

The three disappeared into the night. The League prepared to enact a fairly long term plan, and Harry prepared to move into the next stage of the grand vision he had for the world.

 **To Be Continued.**

* * *

 _So, since we reached the half-way point(well from a plot perspective, not necessarily from a chapter perspective), we'll be returning sometime in October. The second half will be either more than twenty-five chapters, less than twenty-five chapters, or exactly twenty-five chapters, but no more than I feel it needs to be. I know, going out on a limb._


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty-Six: Manhunt.**

* * *

The world tended to be a scary place these days for a certain group of rich gentlemen. One of these men exited the back of his limo. He slammed the door quickly, and made sure to make his way into the penthouse.

"Drive around."

The man stumbled up the stairs and almost fell. Tonight was going to be a night where he made a huge deal which would put thousands of dollars into his bank account. The news came through, because the vigilante in the hood, attacked one of his good friends. He made a big deal just the other night.

The gentlemen the businessman made the deal with weren't the type you would back out at the last second. The hood might kill him. Those people will kill him.

The man set his briefcase down on the table. The phone rang. The businessman tensed up for a moment, before shaking his head.

' _Just the phone. You have to quit being so jumpy.'_

The man walked over to pick up the phone. His hand shook as he picked up the phone.

"Yes," the businessman said. He almost dropped the phone on the table for a second.

"Sounds like you made a deal tonight. Good, remember to lock your doors. It's not safe out there. And I'll see you at the usual place tomorrow evening."

The man's fist clenched around the cord of the phone. His knuckles whitened the longer he clutched onto the phone.

"Usual place, same time?"

"Yes, it's what I said. You sound nervous."

"Haven't you heard….Franklin was sniped the other night."

"I know, but Franklin doesn't have common sense. I know you're a man who is prepared. The hood hasn't taken anyone of value out yet. Our mutual friend is hunting for…whoever is underneath the hood. There are conflicting reports about the gender. No one who has seen the vigilante up close has…..lived long enough to let us know"

"What if it's an army of them?"

"Preston, calm down, it will be fine. We run this city, and our plan is on schedule. The timing has been accelerated, because of the vigilante's involvement."

Samuel Preston wished he could have shared his contact's casual indifference.

' _Of course, Malcolm Fucking Merlyn, you would have the best security. No one is going to screw with you. And no one is going to put an arrow through you.'_

"The vigilante rose out of the scum which is consuming this city. It's time to rebuild from the ashes."

"I've…"

"You don't have misgivings, do you?"

"I don't know enough of what you have planned."

"It's for the best….secrets are best kept….just keep purchasing property and clearing them out."

"Some aren't willing to sell though."

"Then their stubborn pride will lead to far more collateral damage. What we do is best for this city. And many people have failed this city."

The phone conversation went dead. Preston understood the conversation concluded and he put it out of my mind.

' _I need a fucking drink.'_

Samuel Preston preferred drinking over thinking. He shuffle over to the wine cabinet and poured himself a glass. The man lifted the glass up to his mouth and took a long drink from it. Seconds passed as he allowed himself to indulge in a nice long drink which really hit the spot.

A tinkling of broken glass forced Preston to stand bolt upright. The man reached to the desk drawer and pulled out a gun.

"Show yourself!"

The man held the gun with shaky hands. The weapon slipped from his hand nearly twice. The sweat dripped into his eyes, with salt from the sweat burning. The gun inched and his fingers slipped.

The gun resounded with a bang off of the ground. Preston startled himself. He didn't shoot himself in the foot, at least not in the literal sense of the word.

A figure crept out of the shadows and slammed him back. Preston ping ponged off the back of a kitchen chair. The glass of wine he ingested before he drew the gun dulled his reflexes.

Preston scrambled to the gun. A foot shot out, stomping his fingers. An arrow pointed at his head.

"You!" Don't kill me!"

"I won't kill you."

The businessman thanked his lucky stars. He tried to peer underneath the hood of the person. Underneath body armor, he couldn't figure out whether the hood was a hood or a hoodette. The vigilante wore a distorted voice modulator which prevented any speech patterns.

An arrow into the tendons on his hand caused Preston to howl in agony.

"I thought you said you won't kill me."

"I won't kill you, you're still breathing. For the moment. Test me enough, and the next arrow will be in your head."

Preston gritted his teeth to block out the pain.

"I wouldn't advise moving."

Preston stared down the loaded quiver. A warm liquid spilled down his leg which he hoped to Christ almighty was sweat. Otherwise, it would be rather embarrassing.

"You work for Lawrence Crock."

"Crock….you mean the Sportsmaster?"

"Yes, him."

"He's working...helping strong arm people….working for the rich club. Goofy looking bastard or not, he's pretty good at what he does. Not as good as the Cain guy, but…."

"Cain?"

"David Cain…guy shows up at his meetings…flanked by those guys who look like the Yakuza….tattoos and fingers cut off….doesn't say much. Don't even know why he's here, but I sure wouldn't want to mess with him."

"Tell me where Cain and Crock are?"

"They didn't exactly invite me….NOT MY OTHER HAND!"

Another arrow shot into the tendon of the man. Blood spilled from the side of his hand. The hood forced him to look up. The man's jaw ached underneath a clenching fist.

"They didn't know….but I have…numbers of guys….who might know…bag….I swear….phone…bag."

The hooded vigilante bent down and fished the phone out of the bag. Password locked.

"Tell me your password."

"It's Preston…the password is Preston69"

The idiot used his own name for his password with a number tacked on at the end. Could be worse, he could have used password for password, or the always popular 1234 password. Regardless, the hooded woman made her way in. She found another three people on her list, and they would be paying a visit.

"You need to call….I'm going to bleed out. You've killed me."

"Now I've killed me."

One arrow plunged through him, taking him out. Samuel Preston faded to black.

"A bit much, but it worked. Missed one outside, though."

The vigilante turned around. She saw a woman dressed in a tight black leather outfit which clung to every inch of her body. She wore fingerless black gloves, a black jacket, and a black choker device with a diamond. The mask covered her. Standing by her side, she stood next to a man wearing a boring, but practical leather black outfit with a blue dragon superimposed on it. The man held a hood up of his hood, and the properties around the hood lead anyone who looked underneath it staring at a black void.

"So the two of you are back in town," the hood said. She crossed the room and crossed her arms. "Exactly how long have you been back."

One could almost see Harry's smile flickering to the shadows. The trio exited the side entrance of the building. Sara, Harry, and Artemis passed three of the people.

"Well, we've been in and out all of this time," Harry said. "I can't afford not to maintain a visible presence since I'm becoming such a public figure in the city."

"Right," Artemis said. "Oh, and….Thea is getting a bit more comfortable around me. She hasn't suspected about my night life yet."

"For now, she shouldn't," Harry said. "If we ever bring her into the fold, we might need to let her into some things. I doubt she knows much, but….the closer you get to the Queen family, the closer you can find out exactly what's going on."

Artemis hung onto the wall, leaning over the balcony. She peered out into the city. If she learned one thing, scum existed around every corner. More than the list she glimpsed on the island which Oliver's father left.

The archer thanked herself for her photographic memory and the ability to recall a good chunk of the list. A few pages looked to be missing from the notebook.

"Are you filling in the blanks?" Sara asked.

"Yes," Artemis said. "I've run into people who aren't even on the list. It shouldn't be too much of a problem to deal with them."

"Hope not," Harry said. "But, I'm sure if anyone can handle what's going on here, you can."

Artemis smiled at Harry's words of encouragement. She did her best to not let him down.

"One person at a time," Artemis said. "No closer to finding my father."

"Remember, this is part of a bigger plan," Harry said. "Your father and Cassandra's are a byproduct….you haven't run into her have you?"

"I crossed paths with Lady Shiva once," Artemis said. "She's biding her time….one interesting thing is I've gotten more clarification Cain's been working with Merlyn."

The only clarification of Cain working with Merlyn came from Damien Darhk. Which like it or not, wasn't exactly the most rock solid of sources.

"We better leave," Artemis said. "I'm becoming number one in this city."

"Number one with a bullet?" Sara asked.

"The police have a real problem with vigilantes," Artemis said. "Some of it's a morality, legal thing. Other times….well we work a little better than they do."

"Well, assassins, vigilantes, whatever you want to call us, we have our own code to play by," Harry said. "People outside of the organization don't understand it."

Artemis smiled. She had been called a cold-blooded killer. Killer, yes, but cold-blooded might be mixing things up too much. Some of these people killed themselves. Maybe not directly, but they lead to the deaths of others. Some touched organized crimes.

"I saw your sister the other day."

Sara perked up for a second.

"And how is Laurel doing?"

"Well, she's doing well," Artemis said. "It helps she's channeled her aggression into something constructive and didn't fly off of the rails."

Sara's frown deepened for a second. Harry leaned towards her.

"We'll bring her into the fold, in due time."

"We should just kidnap her and train her," Sara said. "It would cut out a lot of unnecessary drama."

"Are you advocating the kidnapping of your own sister?" Harry asked.

"Don't you think the three of us would look good together?" Sara asked. "Besides, she needs to be laid by someone who….well someone who she's worthy of her."

"I'm sure Miss Gordon is doing a good job in keeping her on the straight and narrow," Harry said. "But, she can't be around all of the time. Especially given she has a full plate over in Gotham City."

"One of Ra's plans before he died was to establish a greater presence in Gotham," Sara said. "Nyssa mentioned it, I'm not sure…"

"She made me well aware of all of her father's plans."

Harry, Sara, and Artemis left to a safe area. Starling's finest moved in to investigate the crime season.

Sara frowned, catching a glimpse of her father. A stab of guilt spread through her body at her disappearance leading to all of the problems in the Lance family.

' _Leave the life behind. Any link to the life, could lead to problems….but maybe you can let them know everything is okay, without showing your hand.'_

Sara experienced Harry's burning gaze connect with her. The woman peered over her shoulder. Maybe it was just her, but she wondered if Harry took a closer glimpse of her mind than she thought.

"If you think you can pull it off, go for it."

* * *

Thea Queen thought about the last six months were. For six months, on and off, she thought about the night where she almost died. Really though, her thoughts went back a full nine months, nearly a year to the moment where she learned there had been a terrible accident.

She might have been on the ship, had her mother not caught her sneaking out. Teenage rebellion was foiled.

Thea couldn't look Laurel in the eye for the longest time, but the two bonded in some strange way over their mutual grief. Laurel's father on the other hand, well Detective Lance went through some rough times.

The rumors came out today where the authorities wanted to declare Oliver, her father, Sara, and the rest of the crew on the Queen's Gambit dead.

Thea honestly couldn't say how she felt about it. Having them declared legally dead would add a sense of finality she didn't know she could take right now. If she did see them dead, it might allow her closure to be honest.

A knock on the door brought Thea out of her musings. The teenager opened the door and opened up.

"Artemis, um, what brings you by?"

"Heard about the news," Artemis said. "Figured, I'd check up on you, to see how you're doing."

"Well, I'm….I don't know," Thea said. "Do you think Oliver is out there?"

"He may still find his way home if he is," Artemis said.

"The Gambit was supposed to be unsinkable though," Thea said. "And I know they said the Titanic was supposed to be unsinkable and look what happened with there."

Thea started to pace around. The Queen Mansion was about as lively as a crypt ever since her brother and father were lost at sea. Her mother took longer nights at the office, which in turn lead to days. Servants got Thea everything she wanted, but not necessarily everything she needed.

"It's hard to miss someone who isn't…..it's hard to miss someone until they're gone. And I just think every time the door opens, it's either of them walking inside."

Artemis kept her mouth shut for a second.

"My sister ran away when she turned eighteen," Artemis said. "She had enough at home….don't know whether or not she's out there. So, I almost understand what you're going through."

"You've gone through worse…..your father's a deadbeat and your mother….she's still in a coma," Thea said.

She choked out the words. With her first world problems, it became hard for her at times to emphasize with the fact some really serious issues happened outside of the walls of Queen manor.

"One day at a time," Artemis said. "It isn't over yet."

Thea walked over towards a wine cabinet. Artemis gripped her hand gently and prevented her from partaking in the delights inside.

"As an almost responsible, almost adult, I can't really let you waste away, Thea."

Thea cracked a smile at Artemis's all too accurate description of herself.

"If you want to shoot something up, you should really do so with a bow and arrow, you're really good at it."

"Not as good as you are, though," Thea said. "Or the vigilante…..she's amazing."

"How do you know the vigilante is a woman?" Artemis asked.

"Just a feeling I have," Thea said. "I can't really place it to be honest, but…it's just a feeling I have."

"Well trust your gut, Thea."

Thea trusted her gut and thought Artemis knew a lot more about things she let on. The two of them ran into each other, and hit it off nicely.

"So, how are you feeling?"

"Well, I'll feel better when I have a chance to fire an arrow at something. I don't know how you almost every shot."

"Almost every shot?"

Thea frowned and shook her head. The combined stoic and hurt look on Artemis's face almost caused Thea to lose it. She took a few seconds to return back to a mostly serious look.

"Okay fine, every shot. Are you happy?"

"Just making sure I get my due."

Artemis waited for Thea to get her jacket, before the two of them headed out. She tried to remember the mission she was on.

Thea dropped a few pieces of tantalizing information to her. Nothing too solid unfortunately, but Artemis worked with what she could work with.

"So, Harry Potter's all over the news."

Artemis stopped at Thea's casual statement.

"What brought this on?"

"Well, he's Starling City's new favorite son, and….he's giving a lot of money to help a lot of people," Thea said. "And making a lot of other people look bad in the process."

"Well, it's important he does his part," Artemis said.

Thea frowned. She half expected him to have some kind of agenda. She didn't know why. Perhaps because of the crowd she hung around, she hung around people who always had their own agendas. The young woman shook her head.

' _You start seeing agendas everywhere, you'll have nothing but trouble, Thea.'_

Thea turned her neck off to the side and frowned.

"So are you ready to go?" Artemis asked.

"Born ready."

Artemis and Thea made her way out. To be honest, she was glad to be out of the house. The entire house stifled her to be honest.

' _One of the most boring places in the world to be is a large house, when you're the only one to be there.'_

* * *

Sara understood the risk she took being in the city. She also understood the reason why Harry stationed her here and made her keep a close eye from the shadow.

"I wouldn't ask this of you, if I didn't know you can handle it."

Harry's hands rubbed the back of Sara's neck. His magical hands performed an acceptable measure of relieving the tension in the back of her neck. She overdid it today taking out her aggressions on her thugs.

"I feel everything is a test."

"It isn't of my doing," Harry said.

He offered a hand and helped Sara to her feet.

"Every moment of life, from cradle to the grave, is subject to a test. And you've passed more of them than you thought."

"Hiding underneath the nose of people who think I'm dead."

Sara stretched for a moment. Her words trailed off.

"Do you think it's a test you can handle?"

She shook her head and pushed herself into a battle stance. One day, the world might learn she survived ad lived.

"What about Oliver?"

"He's on his own path," Harry said. "Adeline called in a favor to ensure he's being kept occupied until the time he's ready to return."

"Dare I ask what kind of favor she called in?"

Harry refused to answer the question at first. Sara rushed in and aimed a roundhouse kick at Harry. Harry dodged the kick with ease.

Sara fired a series of kicks. Determination flooded through the eyes of the blond as she tried to get at least one shot in on Harry. She wanted to hold her own against him, even if she ended up knocked on her ass.

"You're getting better," Harry said.

"Yeah, but you are too. And you didn't answer the question."

Harry avoided Sara's attacks, deflecting all of them.

"If Oliver doesn't get himself killed, one day he might return. I don't know where he might go. The circumstances he's in either strengthens a person, destroys them, or drives them around the bend."

Sara slid underneath Harry. Her legs scissored around his.

"But, the real question is, will he have a company to return to when you're done?"

"I'm looking out for the future," Harry said. "Granted, there's someone who I already purchased a fair bit of inside information about Queen Industries off of. She has an axe to grind with the entire family, but….woman scorned, and all it."

"Oliver rubbing a woman a wrong way?" Sara asked.

"No, actually, his father," Harry said. "And I've been able to verify it through at least three channels….so it's legit."

Sara tried to take advantage of Harry's momentary voyage into his mind. Only to realize Harry didn't think like normal people did. His mind worked on several different processes at first.

"But, where does STAR labs fit into this?"

"I'm intrigued," Harry said. "A particle accelerator…..seems like a pipe dream, doesn't it? Granted, I'm not a science major….my last science class was at the age of ten…..and magic and science can be mortal elements."

"Did you tell me there was a science to magic?" Sara asked.

"In a sense yes, but in another, it's just to appease certain left-brain people," Harry said. "And one could argue science is sorcery to people who can't explain it."

Harry took Sara down to the mats and pinned her down. He pulled his arms, grabbing them back. Harry relaxed his grip.

"One day."

"But not today."

Nyssa crossed the room, making her strides into the room.

"You're back from Nanda Parbat?" Sara asked.

"You didn't think I'd stay away for long," Nyssa said. "All of them answer to Harry. And they're integrating into key positions in society. Talent is being recruited….didn't you just sweep someone out from underneath Queen Industries?"

"Yes, from their IT department," Harry said. "And I'll be meeting her on Monday. Ginny actually helped sway her."

"She's scarily persistent when she wants something, especially when she wants it for you," Sara said. "And I'm not complaining at all."

Nyssa smiled, no one would complain about the strides Ginny made. She excelled well beyond all expectations.

"The world is bright, and soon…the world will change," Harry said.

"I'm surprised your former world hasn't tried to seek you out," Nyssa said.

"They're trying to keep themselves from falling apart at the seams," Harry said. "But, let's not bring them up."

"To a bright future," Nyssa said.

"Yes, to a bright future."

Harry backed off and let Sara wrap her arms around Nyssa. He watched two of his wives engage in a long lip lock, somewhat for his benefit, a fair bit for his own enjoyment. Sara's arms snaked behind Nyssa, and grabbed her ass.

"And let's show our devotion to the head of the League."

"And what better way than showing a little head of our own," Sara said. Nyssa blinked and Sara threw her hands up. "Sounded a bit better up in my head."

"All is forgiven….providing you do a good job."

Sara grinned and wrapped her arms around Harry. The two of them exchanged a kiss with each other. Harry's hands roamed down, cupping her backside.

Nyssa kissed Harry on the side of the neck and made her way down. She occupied by herself by removing his belt and exposing him to the world.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: A Very Active Morning.**

* * *

Friday morning capped off the week for most people, but for Harry, he disagreed Friday was the end of the week. No, it began what might in fact be an extremely intense weekend. The young man leaned back on the seat of the train car. Ginny decided to tag along on the trip with him, wanting a chance to stretch her legs.

"I think you've turned a few heads," Ginny said. "But, then again, you turn heads pretty much everywhere you go…..and only you would be brazen enough to do what you're about to do."

"You're going to have to be more specific. I'm going to do a lot of things people think are brazen pretty soon."

Ginny smirked, trying hard not to crack up in a fit of laughter. Harry's point was well taken to be honest.

"The meeting you're taking with Harrison Wells at STAR Labs. He doesn't take meetings personally."

Harry shifted his lips into a grin and touched his hand to Ginny's.

"Given the reputation the Evans family has, he has no choice to take the meeting. My mother's family is pretty well known as trend centers in many fields. And to think, Petunia would have me think my grandparents were normal people indeed."

Ginny's hand flew underneath her chin, eyes widening in mock awe.

"No way, Petunia Dursley telling a mistruth. It's so absurd, I simply won't hear of it."

Harry chuckled at Ginny's words. She didn't take too direct of involvement of the League affairs, but she had been a rather active recruiter for other parts of the business empire. Harry wasn't too short on people who could fight beside him. He needed people to help manage other aspects, some of the brightest minds he could find.

"Well, the Dursleys had their own problems. I think they're realizing the folly of their actions more than anyone else."

Ginny nodded her head. The Dursleys understood rather well. She couldn't really confirm nor deny any part of her making them understand with a not so subtle visit. She would be above such a thing, wouldn't she?

The woman's lips curled into a grin. The train stopped, one of the last stops on the way to Central city. A dark haired young woman around Harry's age entered the car. She dressed in a rather professional manner, although her looks could not be denied.

Harry took a moment to size her up, when Ginny tapped him on the shoulder.

"Recruiting talent, Harry?"

"I'm always recruiting talent," Harry said. "And….I have a sixth sense about who is worth more than a few seconds."

Ginny agreed, Harry tended to be spot on nine times out of ten. The one time he wasn't spot on, it was kind of spectacular. Perfection had to fail sometimes to mix things up.

Harry frowned as heard the train stopping.

"Great, why are we stopping?" the woman asked.

Harry thought the woman asked a logical question. His sixth sense pointed out trouble, with a capital T.

A scream from the other end of the train could be heard. A crazy white man with a hobo beard and greasy hair made his way onto the train. He brandished a gun as he marched through the train car right next to him.

The brunette woman rose to her feet to get a better look, eyes narrowing.

"I can't believe it, my first day, and this happens….."

Harry zeroed in on the man yelling and screaming.

"The day of revolution is at hand, and all of you will stop giving into the machine. I've been forced out on the streets, to become the messenger of the grand savior. He has chosen me above all others for my holy crusade, and anyone who gets in my way will suffer his untimely wrath. Do not fret, if you do as I say, you will not get hurt. Throw all of your possessions from the train, even the clothes on your back!"

Ginny's eyes widened for a brief moment. She turned to Harry.

"He can't be bloody serious, can he?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders. The man looked about as serious as a heart attack, which didn't bode well for anyone on the train. The man was a lunatic with a gun, who managed to board a train and cause trouble.

Easy pickings for the leader of the League of Assassins. Harry rubbed his fingers together and caused the lights to go out.

The sounds of gunfire resounded from the next room. The lights flickered back and the hijacker slumped on the ground in a pool of his own blood.

"Looks like the nutcase shot himself!"

The mutterings about the man continued from the other end of the cabin. Everyone agreed the man concluded his rant by pointing his gun to himself and saying he would prove to the doubters of his chosen one status from the grand savior. He would be protected by his own bullets.

Reality decided to throw a bit of a curveball in their way. Harry leaned towards Ginny.

"Some crazy nutcase blew himself away, what would the odds be?"

Ginny grabbed his hand.

"With you around, pretty high."

* * *

With some delay, Harry and Ginny arrived at STAR Labs. The brunette on the train made her way next to them, almost bumping into Harry. She staggered back for a second, and shook her head.

"Sorry, about…..you were on the train, weren't you?" she asked.

"Yes, I was about to ask the same about you," Harry said. "Don't worry, I'm not stalking you. Contrary to popular rumor, I have better things to do in my day than stalk attractive women."

"Most of the time, they stalk him," Ginny said.

The brunette cracked a brief smile as she looked at the two of them. The green eyes of the young man looked rather familiar to her, but she passed it off as a coincidence.

"My name is Caitlin Snow."

"Harry Potter, and this is one of my wives, Ginny," Harry said.

He dropped the "one of his wives" statement in so casually Ginny nearly broke out in a fit of laughter.

"One of….one of your wives?"

Caitlin tried very hard to wrap her head around it. She found herself intrigued by a scientific prospective, even though she wondered how it would work from an emotional perspective.

"Ginny and I were born into a culture which takes a more liberated view of sex and marriage. Essentially, we aren't grounded by many of the taboos."

"Well, to be fair, a lot of what we believe is wrong is because of some invisible society standards," Caitlin said. "As people, many of us suppress our base desires, because they are considered wrong because we don't want to be ostracized by society."

"Well, society is very flawed, and fickle," Harry said. "And many want people to become something they're not, to fit predetermined roles. In other words, we're living a lie. But, having multiple partners is not a bad thing, especially when all parties consent to the act."

"Strong alpha males exist in nature," Caitlin said. "It's like a pack of lions, isn't it? One Alpha Male and several mates. Humans hide their animalistic nature all of the time."

In Harry's mind, monogamy was unnatural. He didn't believe in leaving women for other men out of pity as well, out of a belief he stole the other women. If the women judged him more worthy, and the other men didn't measure up, it was their problem, not his. Some might be worthy, but others lacked the ability to really fight for what they wanted. They'd rather pout and scream about how someone stole their woman.

Not accounting for the fact women were perfectly capable of making their own choices. If they gravitated towards Harry, it was of their own free will. He might have convinced them here and there, but the choice was there's.

"Yes, in another vain attempt to fit in," Harry said. "Speaking of which, where do you fit in today? What brings you to STAR Labs?"

Caitlin smiled as she looked at Harry.

"Well, I just got a job here….well not a job, not yet anyway. But it could be a job, if I play my cards right. It's more like an Internship."

"Well, hopefully it goes well for you," Harry said. "Although, if it doesn't, the door's open for a job at Shining Light Industries."

Caitlin realized seconds later she talked to the Harry Potter, as in the one who was all over the news. She tried to keep it cool.

"So, is offering women a job your go to pick up line for all women?" Caitlin asked. She spoke in a teasing tone of voice. Harry responded with a smile.

"Only the really brilliant types," Harry said.

"You don't know my qualifications though," Caitlin said.

"Doctor Wells thought you were good enough to hire. And it's a very exclusive and niche group at STAR Labs. So, it goes to reason he hires only the very best and the brightest. But, leave your options open."

"I'll think about it, it's just a one year Internship, a lot can happen," Caitlin said. "Which I need to get my doctorate."

She realized something, looking at Harry.

"I met you about five years ago, didn't I?"

Harry frowned as he looked over towards her.

"It was here in Central City, you were over here….I'm not sure what you were doing over here," Caitlin said. "But, anyway, we ran into each other. I nearly went flying into the fountain, but you saved me from embarrassment. And going into class with wet clothes, I would never leave it down."

Granted one look at Harry on the day caused something else to be wet.

"Oh, must have been doing my tour of the world," Harry said. "You've changed a lot since then, haven't you?"

"Well, I was just a dorky high school student then, so…I'd say I changed," Caitlin said. "We did talk for a few minutes. I wanted to ask you out for coffee, but I didn't have the nerve to ask you."

"Do you have the nerve to ask me now?" Harry asked. "Because, if you did have the nerve, in theory, I'd be delighted to join you for coffee."

"Oh, well….if it's okay with…"

"I'm not the insecure type who gets upset with her husband when he goes out on a coffee date with another woman," Ginny said. "And besides, you do remember the multiple wives thing. And I can tell you do want to learn more about it."

"We'll talk about it after you get off of work, I'm making you rather late," Harry said.

Caitlin realized he made her a little bit late. She had been caught up in the conversation so much.

"Why don't we go in together? We can explain it's all my fault."

"Technically, I was already running a bit later because of some idiot who decided to hijack a train," Caitlin said.

Harry smiled, technically she was running late.

* * *

A meeting with Harrison Wells came at a premium. The man used to meet with people a bit more, but everything changed some years back when his wife died.

Harry respected it, but after a couple of months of angling for a meeting, he and Ginny made their way

"The incident on the train was an odd one," Wells said, sitting himself down from behind his desk. Harry and Ginny did soon chairs he offered. "The type of thing normally doesn't happen in Central City….for the most part."

Wells eyed Harry for a moment. The man extended a hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Potter," Wells said. "I have to say your reputation precedes you. And you've really turned a few heads since becoming public."

"I've turned heads wherever I go," Harry said. "Shining Light Enterprises is looking to expand its operations after the initial stage. I think we have some really solid ideas of where we need to go."

"Yes, no doubt you would," Wells said. "But, I assumed while we were interested in science, we went along in very different ways. STAR does its work, but SLE is a technological giant. STAR is more of a research lab."

"And your research is what I'm interested in, Doctor Wells," Harry said. "I understand you've developed a several devices….."

"STAR is in the process of developing several projects, although I'm not at the liberty to discuss them now," Well said. "Much like you're not at the liberty to discuss them yourself."

"Yes, I know you're not at the liberty to discuss your Particle Accelerator."

The casual way Harry stated one of STAR's projects made Wells raise an eyebrow. The cat exited the bag to be honest. The scientist wondered now what.

"Well, you've done your homework, haven't you?"

"Always do," Harry said. "I'm certain you wanted to keep the project quiet, and I understand. But, you know how it's easier said than done."

"No one can confirm it, but few have spoken in whispers," Wells said. "Just like the rumors SLE is interested in buying out Queen Industries."

"Rumors have an interesting way of being spread, don't they?" Harry asked. "I'm surprised you haven't heard about my other intentions, the ones regarding STAR Labs."

"What do you have in mind?" Wells asked.

"I want to purchase controlling interest of STAR Labs. It's state of the art research facility would be vital for my plans.

Wells lifted up the cup of coffee. For a moment, he surveyed Harry over the cup of coffee.

"I'm not sure if you heard, but STAR Labs is not for sale."

"You haven't heard my offer, Doctor Wells. I'm willing to pay a hundred million dollars. Naturally, you will still have a valuable role to continue your research."

"Your offer is generous," Wells said. "But, I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline. Nothing personal at all, it's just….I prefer to have less hands maneuvering around in STAR Labs."

"Hmm," Harry said.

He didn't expect Wells to take the offer straight away. Harry would have been astonished had Wells taken the first offer even. And very pleased, but he didn't think the first offer always would be taken.

"A hundred million dollars is an extraordinary amount of money to throw around, and I'm not even sure STAR Labs, with its assets is worth about half as much," Wells said.

"Don't undersell what STAR Labs have to offer," Harry said. "If half of the whispers of you are true, the Particle Accelerator is closer to being completed. I think I could complete it faster, if you would allow me to work on it."

One tantalizing hint dropped in front of Wells. The invention would be finished about six years ahead of schedule at his current rate, but he wanted even more to be honest.

"Well, I'm intrigued, Mr. Potter," Wells said.

"It's a pity you've had an attachment to STAR Labs," Harry said. "But, I guess you've built things from the ground up. I can respect a man who takes great pride in what he builds. And some of the most brilliant young minds have flocked here to pick your brain."

Wells nodded. Many people said it to be honest.

"Are you one of them, Mr. Potter?"

"I think we both agree there's always something to learn," Harry said.

"It's just a shame our dealings with STAR Labs aren't going to get off the ground," Ginny said. "We would have liked to work with you."

Wells understood what game they were playing. He realized the game changed the moment Harry Potter factored in. Something happened which distorted the natural progressive of how things were going.

"How about a counter offer?"

Harry raised his eyebrow. So, the game continued, well he would keep it in mind.

"I understand despite your business savvy, there are a few gaps in your knowledge which you're trying to fill," Wells said. "And, you have achieved a lot in a short amount of time. I think the two of us, if we go into a partnership, we might be able to achieve something. We can back out at any time, if we feel the agreement is not mutually beneficial."

"A partnership?" Harry asked.

"Consider myself a consultant for SLE and yourself one for STAR Labs," Wells said. He held up a hand. "No, I would ask you to answer now. But, do let me know of your decision."

"I will, and….remember, the other offer remains on the table if you change your mind."

The two men shook hands with each other. Harry received a couple of strange vibes, almost like this wasn't the first time Wells met him.

 _'Curious, and curious.'_

* * *

"I bet you can't do it."

"Oh, you don't want to say something you can't back up, Miss Queen. I know I can hit the target. And I can do it blindfolded."

Artemis stretched out, dressed in a tight green top and yoga pants. The archer stretched on her ankle. She rummaged through her band and covered her eyes with a piece of clothe.

"You're really going to hit the target blindfolded?" Thea asked.

The teenager watched Artemis. Her eyes lingered on the woman's ass. Granted, she wasn't much older than her, but still, she carried herself as someone in her early twenties, as opposed to late teens.

Thea shook her head. Not too much maturity after those teenage years from what she remembered. She cupped her hand underneath her chin and frowned for several seconds.

"I'm going to hit it blind folded, just in a snap."

Artemis snapped her fingers. She aimed the arrow. The tiny hole through the glass left her little margin for area. She had a sixth sense the target lingered on the other side of her arrowhead. She drew back her bow.

Thea hitched in her breath. She remained silent, watching, observing. The arrow flew through the hole.

The entire process took maybe seconds, but it slowed down in Thea's mind. The arrow shot and nailed the target dead center. One tiny little red dot and Artemis hit it full on.

Thea shook her head.

"You are a show off."

"Why don't you try it?" Artemis asked. "Don't worry, I won't make you do it blind folded."

Thea stepped over to Artemis's spot. The archer placed her hands on either side of Thea. She relaxed her and positioned the fourteen year old girl near.

"Imagine you're hitting someone you really hate in the balls with this arrow. Likely a very small target."

Thea nearly cracked up into laughter. Her hands twitched.

"Remember to focus. Make it yours, and fire."

The arrow fired through the spot. It barely missed the dot. Thea raised her eyebrow in surprise.

"Not bad, for one of the most difficult shots you can make," Artemis said. "You're only going to get better, than the real fun you could be."

"You fired it through here on the first try, blindfolded," Thea said.

"Oh, you thought it was my first try? I've been at this course numerous times, and….."

Artemis frowned and noticed someone arriving. Not too many people came here, because only a select number of people knew about this place.

"Laurel, hey!" Thea called.

Laurel blinked, and turned towards Thea. She turned to the younger sister of her ex-boyfriend, who might be dead, who seduced her younger sister into going on a trip with him. Talk about a messed up sentence to think.

"Thea, what are you doing here?" Laurel asked.

"I could ask the same about you," Thea said. "This isn't a good part of town for you to be in. They eat people like you alive."

"Well, makes it all the more the reason, why you shouldn't be here?" Laurel asked.

"Don't worry, I'm keeping a close eye on her," Artemis said. "And we're not in the really bad part, don't worry. Most people here leave you alone if you don't make eye contact with them."

"Mostly, because they have something to hide," Laurel said. Artemis stared at her. "But….I'm meeting a friend."

"A friend?" Artemis asked.

"Yes, someone who….well she's helping me get through some tough times," Laurel said. "Sometimes you just need someone to knock some sense into you, you know."

"Yes, I know the feeling," Thea said. "So, if you want to get together sometime….and we can talk….I have plenty to vent about , and I'm sure you do as well."

Laurel frowned. Thea sounded a bit calm and straight forward. She thought she would be more of an emotional rollercoaster now her brother was being declared legally dead. She came here after her father and her had a bit off a tiff over everything which happened.

She thought something was off about the legally dead thing. Normally, they waited a couple of years, unless there was proof. Then again, Moira Queen signed off on the being declared legally dead thing.

"So, I heard you have a new boyfriend."

Thea's statement caught Laurel off guard. Laurel shook her head.

"Who told you I had a new boyfriend?" Laurel asked. "Because, I don't….."

"She's talking about Harry Potter," Artemis said. "Because, we saw the two of you talking to each other….thought it would be rude to interrupt you."

Dinah Laurel Lance understood where the confusion came from. The woman shook her head.

"It's….well we work at the same gym ,and he's…..well, he's….well he's helping me with some other things as well."

"Like what?" Thea asked.

Artemis responded by giving Thea a swift elbow to the side. Thea jumped halfway up with an obvious yelp. Her eyes locked onto Artemis's.

"What did I say?"

"Never mind," Artemis said. "If she's sleeping with Harry, it's her own business. Think it's a bit of an upgrade myself."

Artemis knew Laurel didn't start sleeping with Harry, at least not yet. Harry eased her into his life though. And sooner rather than later, Harry would reveal to her the truth about Sara.

"I've got to meet someone….she doesn't like it when I'm late. Self-defense lessons."

Artemis frowned, but said nothing.

"Well, we won't keep you late if your instructor doesn't like it."

Laurel said her goodbyes to them. She recalled her first meeting with this individual about six months ago, and now Laurel was willing to take the steps to confront her own personal demons. She looked over her shoulder.

Good, Thea and Artemis returned back to their archery practice. Laurel ventured down the hallway. She knocked on the door three times.

The door clicked open, and Laurel stepped inside. She came eye to eye with a woman dressed in red robes with a mask pulled over her face.

"Dinah Laurel Lance, you've returned."

She might have not been able to rise properly out of bed the next morning after her first encounter with her trainer. Barbara would have a fit.

"I won't be gentle on you….for you are late. And being late can be the difference between life and death."

The woman snapped a roundhouse jab at Laurel's face. She dodged it on the first time. The second punch caught her in the face.

She recalled the important lesson keeping her eye on the ball. Lady Shiva hit her in such a way to make her bruising internal and not external.

The only person who experienced and understood the pain she felt was her. Laurel rubbed the area underneath her eye and prepared to go into a battle stance again.

"And again."

* * *

A wind storm kicked up in Central City. A heavy wind continued to kick up, blowing dust in the air.

An energy blast crackled, and a streak sped from the portal at the speed of light. The people barely registered it happening, and most registered it as a fairly nasty wind.

Behind a factory, a woman dressed in a red and yellow uniform collapsed on the ground, breathing. She closed her eyes for a second.

Every inch of the woman's costume clung to her curvy frame. Her soft jaw could be seen from underneath the costume. Her crimson lips puckered. Soft chocolate skin became visible underneath the ripped mask.

The portal sealed shut behind her. The scatter brained woman raised her hand up.

"Oh, what the hell….everything crashed, didn't it?"

The woman tried to speed off, only to skid to a stop about three seconds in. Her body collapsed to the ground, stinging from the ionic energy. The girl's skin blistered.

She couldn't run at all. Blood dripped from her mouth.

The woman pulled a backpack and made her way inside the back entrance of the factory. Empty, and the office area was open. She needed to change into something less conspicuous.

The Flash wasn't even created in this time.

"21st century, I'm way off mode here."

The woman's scrambled mind couldn't recall why she traveled back through time. She could barely recall who she was to be honest. Not a good sign when traveling through time.

' _Danica, my name's Danica….and I'm in the 21_ _st_ _century….and….there's no Speed Force during this present time, because it hasn't been created yet.'_

The woman clipped her hair back and put on a pair of glasses. Pulling on a button up black shirt, and a pair of blue jeans, along with thigh high boots, Danica wondered how she would get home, or even where home was.

She may have also broken time by flying through time at super speed. Time would tell, no pun intended.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Flash Forward:**

* * *

Harry and Ginny took some time to check out some other business interests in Central City. The meeting went exactly as planned.

"You really went for the throat straight away, didn't you?" Ginny asked. "Offering someone such an extraordinary amount of money to essentially sell you total control of his life's work. What would you have done if he accepted the money?"

Harry pondered for a second and gave the most honest answer he could think of.

"I would have been pleasantly surprised he accepted my offer. I went in there just getting a feel of where he stands. Wells will be one to watch."

"Don't tell me you think he's up to something," Ginny said.

"Well, most people are always up to something," Harry said. "The question is, is he up to something which can benefit my plans, or hinder them?"

Ginny frowned and thought about it. As usual, Harry had a good point. Their little tour prior to Harry's ill-fated return to the Ministry blossomed into some unique opportunities. And hell, Harry's return to the Wizarding World opened up a couple of more doors, even through the hellish journey paving the way there.

A piece of paper heated up in Ginny's pocket. The redhead fished through her pocket, and frowned.

"Megan's uncovered something interesting," Ginny said.

"Magic or mundane?" Harry asked.

"She says she needs to tell me in person to properly explain it," Ginny said. "You know, you have your spies back over there….and the Ministry has pretty much swept you underneath the rug."

"Hey, they have their own government to work for," Harry said. "But, I guess I better let you leave, if Megan says it's important, it's important."

"Right," Ginny said. She leaned in closer towards him, a shadow of a smile appearing on her lips. "Do you think you can stay out of trouble for a little bit?"

"Well, I'll see," Harry said. "Caitlin should be coming out here to meet me, and the two of us are going for our coffee."

"So, you're really taking her up on the coffee date?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, you know I'm always recruiting talent," Harry said. "If I hadn't been preoccupied the day I ran into her the first time, I would have swept her off of her feet."

"You were chasing those smugglers into the country," Ginny said. "And technically speaking, you weren't allowed to chase them because of Ministry law preventing you from going after anyone in the United States. ARGUS, or the magical branch, was supposed to take care of it."

"Technically, when have I listened to any authority other than my own?"

Ginny chortled at Harry's casual statement. When indeed had he listened to anyone's authority other than his own?

Harry smiled for a second and waited for Caitlin to make her way down the steps of STAR Labs. She arrived outside.

"Hi, Harry," Caitlin said.

"So, are you ready for the coffee date you waited five years ago?" Harry asked.

"You're never going to let me live it down, are you?" Caitlin asked.

"I'm sure you spent five long years thinking about…coffee," Ginny said, with a smile.

Caitlin sensed a last second word swap with coffee, but she couldn't put her finger on it why. The redhead beamed with so much energy Caitlin couldn't help, but feel energized just a little bit.

"So, are you coming with us?" Caitlin asked.

"As much as I'd like to be a threesome, I'm going to have to pass today," Ginny said. "Just, don't do anything I wouldn't do, okay?"

Ginny sauntered off and swayed her ass a little bit in the skirt she wore. The skirt stretched around her tight ass.

Caitlin shook her head. For being a heterosexual (most of the time) woman, she spent way too much time staring at her retreating ass. She turned around and found herself gazing into Harry's eyes for a few seconds.

"So, I have to ask you a question," Caitlin said.

"Depends on how personal it is," Harry said. "But, you never know, what I'll be open to answering, if you ask nicely."

Caitlin and Harry strolled away from STAR Labs. Harry took her arm and escorted her across the street.

"Well, is she open to a lot?" Caitlin asked.

"Yes, she's open to a lot," Harry said. "As I told you, we come from a culture which has a lot more open minded than many. Granted, we're really backwards about a lot of things, but one thing the culture I come from his oddly progressive about is sexuality. Humans have more hang ups than they should about sexuality."

Caitlin didn't necessarily disagree with him.

"So, you're with several women?" Caitlin asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "They pretty much know what they're getting themselves into. And they can back out any time if they feel uncomfortable."

"But, many choose not to, do they?" Caitlin asked.

"No, they don't," Harry said.

The two of them made their way into the coffee shop and ordered. The two of them sat side by side each other on the table.

"It's more than just a harem, even though I detest the term," Harry said. Caitlin frowned for a second.

"Why?"

"The term has certain preconceived notions I'd like to escape if I can," Harry said. "It's a collective, with an Alpha Male at the top of the heap."

"And no room for other men," Caitlin said.

"No," Harry said. "I've never tried to make other men look inferior if I could help it."

Caitlin thought it was one of the most direct answers Harry could give.

"The men who get jealous of men having so many women are those who couldn't even get one woman on their own," Harry said. "They expect everything to be given to them."

"They're among the weaker members of your culture, than," Caitlin said.

"To be fair, they exist in all cultures," Harry said. "And they're not just men. Some women have severe insecurity issues which are more trouble than they're worth."

Caitlin shuddered, having met women like Harry described in college. They wanted to be the center of attention and caused problems.

"Guess, you have some standards," Caitlin said. Harry raised his eyebrow. "Most people wrongly assume just because a person has multiple problems, they have no standards."

"The ones who throw themselves at me, are the ones you really have to watch out for," Harry said.

"Do you have any limits?" Caitlin asked.

"I'm not aware of any," Harry said. "In fact the longer I go, the stronger I get."

Caitlin's intrigue continued to build for a second. She looked over Harry. He spoke of his exploits casually. He didn't brag too much. He spoke in such a matter of fact manner, it almost excited Caitlin.

"Have you really tested yourself?" Caitlin asked.

"You know, I haven't," Harry said. "Are you willing to help me with such an experiment?"

Caitlin considered the thought for a moment. He causally gave her the offer. Their fingers intertwined underneath the table.

"Well, in the interest of science, I might need to take you up on the offer," Caitlin said. "But, I'm not sure if I can do it on my own."

"I wouldn't sell yourself short," Harry said. "You don't know what you're capable of until you actually do it. And….if you play your cards right, I might help you see what you're truly capable of."

Harry leaned towards her. He lifted his finger to her lips and wiped cream off of her lips. Caitlin shivered for a second.

"Because as interesting as you are about seeing what makes me tick, I'm just as interesting in seeing what makes all the women around me tick," Harry said. "And you're not exception."

Harry's pull almost drew Caitlin into his word. The brunette shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts. The woman's heart skipped another beat.

"It's almost….."

Caitlin paused and checked herself for a second. Her mouth hung open.

"What?" Harry asked.

Caitlin took the plunge before she could help herself.

"It's almost like you have some kind of magnetic pull towards women….which makes me think you were far different from other people than a cultural barrier."

Harry raised his eyebrow. His hand settled itself daringly on her thigh. The heat started to pulse from her, by his mere touch.

"There's…theories there are things which can't really be explained by science," Caitlin said. "We wrap our heads around it, but there's no amount of explanation. What if there's life out there, unknown by the common person?"

"So, you think there's something unique about me?" Harry asked.

Caitlin closed her eyes and nodded. His fingers lingered close, but not too close. He shifted away from her.

"This is the second time I met you," Caitlin said. "What are you doing to me?"

"I don't know what you mean," Harry said.

He pulled his hand out from underneath the table .Caitlin squeezed her thighs together and tried to prevent the juices from spilling out. She took a deep breath, keeping it together.

Caitlin looked down for a moment, and tried to casually fold her arms. She covered her stiffening nipples.

"I think you need another cup of coffee, you look like you're cold."

The casual statement confirmed Caitlin's fear. No matter what, he was observant. He approached the table and grabbed the coffee

Caitlin frowned, and he returned

"Thank you," Caitlin said.

She took the coffee for a moment. Her flirting with him, as fun as it might be, caused her to be a fair bit enamored with him. Harry entered her mind, and wouldn't leave any time soon.

"Maybe I should take you back home, if you're cold," Harry said.

"Yes, we might be able to finish this up at my apartment," Caitlin said.

Dare she take the plunge? Were they rushing things? Was she overcomplicating a simple matter by thinking too much and second guessing?

 _'Now's not the time to act like such a frigid bitch.'_

"I'd like to thank you for the coffee," Caitlin said.

Harry sensed her arousal. She didn't really have a prayer, did she? Harry smiled, and wondered if he should drag out her anguish a little bit, or take the plunge, in more ways than one.

Before he could properly contemplate what he wanted to do, something, or rather someone almost ran into him and Caitlin as they exited the lab.

* * *

Danica wished her mind became a bit more fluid. Thoughts rattled around in the back of her mind and she tried to piece them together like some demented patchwork. At least she wore some clothes where she looked less than conspicuous.

 _'Time travel, just wish I knew why I time traveled here. If I can figure out…things…I could….yeah.'_

Her mind didn't slow down even though her powers did. It led to a rather jarring set of circumstances for her.

The name Harry popped into her mind suddenly. Almost like someone punched her in the back of the head. The woman buckled down, almost to one knee. Her breath quickened.

 _'Harry, Harry who….there could be a lot of different Harry's, who is Harry?'_

The speedster from the future shook her head. Contrary to popular belief, shaking a person's head didn't clear their thoughts. It achieved a wonderful stabbing sensation in the back of her neck, along with some aching stiffness.

"I can't believe Harry Potter's in Central City. Do you think we could run into him?"

A light bulb went off in Danica's brain. She remembered the name Harry Potter. Who didn't know the name Harry Potter? He did….well she didn't remember what he did, and it was likely not ideal to think about it in the present time.

Regardless, she staggered forward and almost smacked into a couple exiting a coffee shot. A pair of strong hands reached out and prevented Danica from falling down onto the ground.

"Well, it's a weird way to meet women, unless it's only the second time it happened."

Danica shook her head. Strange, weird, and oddness, she recognized the voice to be honest. Her entire mind buzzed. Like a computer struggling to boot up, she filed through it.

She was so bedazzled with her attempt to figure out the voice, she barely had chance to acknowledge the dazzling green eyes in front of her. The young girl's mouth hung open.

"You're him, and you're….I'm so glad to meet you, well technically I've met you before, but this is the first time you've met me, so I'm really glad to meet you."

"Um, hello, I'm Harry Potter, are you okay?" Harry asked.

"Oh, I know, every woman from where I come from knows all about you," Danica said. "Some of them hope you appear in their bedroom and make all of their dreams come through."

Caitlin blinked for a second. A part of her wondered what the hell happened. Another part of her wondered if she wanted to know.

"And who are you?" Harry asked.

"My name is Danica, I've come a long way….a long, long way," she said. "You wouldn't believe how long I came."

"Why are you here, though?" Harry asked.

Harry decided to move her into an alleyway before they caused a scene. Caitlin raised her eyebrow for a second.

"Let me guess, you deal with this type of stuff every day?" Caitlin asked.

"Pretty much, I'm surprised nothing happened yet today," Harry said. "So, sorry, but I didn't want anyone to overhear us?"

"Yeah, I didn't think you wanted anyone to hear us as well, and….I don't want anyone to know I'm here," Danica said. "Especially him…the Reverse-Flash."

"The Reverse-Flash?" Caitlin asked.

"Oh, you know, the enemy of the Flash, the mortal nemesis of him, or is it her, I don't even remember," Danica said. She clapped her hand onto her mouth, gasping for a second.

"Let me guess, you weren't supposed to say anything," Harry said.

"No, oh, I just….crashed the time line even worse," Danica said. "Guess, it's a good thing I didn't tell you who the Reverse-Flash is. Mostly because I don't know."

Harry noticed the nasty bruise on the top of her head. She hit her head on something.

"I guess our date got cut short," Caitlin said.

"Oh, the two of you…sorry for messing this up," Danica said. "I didn't mean to…"

"Relax, you couldn't have known," Caitlin said. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I think you should get home, and I'll check up with you later," Harry said.

Caitlin almost protested, but she understood right away when Harry gave her a look.

"I'd appreciate if you wouldn't tell anyone this," Harry said. "Give me a chance to get this sorted out."

"Oh, yes, I won't…but are you going to explain…."

"Once I figure out what's going on, I'll tell you," Harry said.

Caitlin's worst fears confirmed themselves. She watched Danica shuffle her feet. Turning around, she tried to give the younger girl a reassuring smile.

"So, do you still have the lab in Central City?" Danica asked.

Harry looked at her with a surprised look. He just arranged to set up shop here, buying out an area. He finished moving in everything just days ago, but it was a hush-hush thing.

"Um, spoilers?" Danica asked.

Harry nodded in response. Wherever she came from, Harry hoped nothing else followed her through the portal. He could take care of anything which followed her through the portal, granted, but Danica's arrival caused a big enough headache as is.

"I'll see you later," Harry said.

"Call me if you need anything," Caitlin said. "And…good luck, I think."

"You think?" Harry asked. "Indecision is not becoming you."

"Oh, I can be pretty decisive when I want to be."

Caitlin leaned forward, surprised at her own actions. She pressed her lips against Harry's with a kiss. Her moist lips met his, for about ten seconds. She pulled away for a second.

"I agree, you can be very decision," Harry said.

"What did I just do?" Caitlin asked.

"I believe you just kissed him," Danica said.

"I'm sorry, if I seemed a little bit forward….."

"No, you followed your instincts," Harry said. "And you did what you wanted to do. Don't be sorry for doing what you want to do."

Caitlin shook her head. Kissing some guy she barely knew, who she met three times, she wondered what got into her. But, maybe she needed a change in her life, which had been very mundane and by the numbers so far.

Danica tried not to smile. Foreknowledge of the future, scatter brained as it might have been, wasn't needed to see what happened coming a mile away.

* * *

The energy created by the Flash's arrival left a trail. While her arrival went mostly unnoticed by the people in Central City, the arrival of the person who followed her seconds later out of the portal went anything, but unnoticed.

A cackling of energy erupted. The civilians watched an imposing figure dressed in black exit the portal. The figure exited, and looked around. Raising his gauntlet, he activated a few buttons.

"The early 21st century, a rather primitive time," the man said. "Humans immersed in pop culture, uncaring about the problems in their world. Political corruption at a high on this planet, although not the high, and technology being flashy without little substance."

The man raised his hand. A wall vaporized simply because it was in his way. He ambled forward, into the city.

"A city ripe to be taken over," the hooded figure said. "Central City, the birthplace of the Flash, and the Flash's legacy has been a thorn in my side."

Central City predated the Flash, in fact, he wouldn't exist for another five years.

"There wouldn't be a Flash when I'm through. The city will be mine, and they will bow down to a new ruler. And any who defy me will be crushed."

He studied the speaking patterns of 21st century supervillains as a student of the game. He had them down pretty pat, if he had to say so himself.  
X-X-X  
Danica entered the lab. Her eyes widened. Sure the lab wasn't too advanced, but still, as far as nostalgia's concerned, it would be extremely impressive.

"Wow, I can't believe it," Danica said. "To think, this lab would be one of the most state of the art locations for scientific achievements, but it's just a baby, right now….and you're barely moved in…but you don't need equipment, do you?"

"It helps though," Harry said. "I take it you know about my powers, don't you?"

"Um, yeah, a little bit," Danica said. She started to bounce around, but stopped, realizing how it made her look.

Harry took notice she didn't wear a bra underneath her tight top. He filed it away as pretty interesting, but Harry need not forget while they were here. Actually, he couldn't forget, because he didn't really know.

"So, I'm from the future," Danica said. "I remember it now, my name is Danica….can't remember my last name…but it's not important. The least you know about your future, the better, trust me on it."

Danica shuddered for a few seconds. Harry grabbed the woman's hand.

"But, anyway, I came from the distant future, about….oh the 31st century or so," Danica said. "I came to stop the Reverse-Flash from going back in time, for him to be able to enact his plans against the Flash. I'm not sure what he plans to do, but….he's sworn a vendetta to kill the Flash and corrupt everything he stands for. And wipe him out of existence eventually….but he doesn't understand the paradox he might create."

"There needs to be a Flash, for a Reverse-Flash to exist," Harry said.

"So, if the Flash never existed, it means the Reverse-Flash never existed. If the Reverse-Flash didn't exist, then he couldn't go back in time to make the Flash not exist. But, if the Flash existed, the Reverse-Flash existed, which means the Reverse-Flash could wipe him out of the timeline. But if the Reverse-Flash doesn't exist, then he can't go back and wipe the Flash out, so the Flash would…."

Danica's mind ran around in circles, but never quite reached the destination point. Harry decided to take pity and help her reach the motion.

"So to summarize, the Reverse-Flash causes the timeline to collapse upon itself, because of a logic fallacy."

"Um, yeah, makes sense to me," Danica said. "Thanks for explaining it far better than I ever could."

"Thanks for reminding me how much I detest time travel," Harry said.

Danica flashed a cheesy little smile at him and shook her head.

"It can be rather hard to wrap your head around," Danica said. "But, anyway, if the Reverse-Flash succeeds in wiping out Flash-Prime, I can't be, because….well, I'm the Flash of the 31st century."

Danica almost slapped herself in the face.

"Oh shit, Spoilers."

"Yes," Harry said. "You don't have to tell me who, but do you have any clue who the Flash is?"

"No," Danica said. "My memory's still kind of crashed from the timeline. Borked all of the mode."

"So, your brain's fried?" Harry asked.

"Didn't I just say it? Do you think you can jog my memories?"

Harry had a few ways to trigger her memories, but he would have to run some tests. And he would need some help in doing it.

"Oh, and did I mention I lost my powers because the Speed Force which their tied to hasn't been created yet?"

Harry thought it would be wise. He racked his brain with a few ideas.

"How did it get created?"

"There was lightning involved, I think," Danica said. "An immense burst of power….oh of course, I know now….you have the ability to restore lost powers!"

"I….what?" Harry asked.

"Well, unless they're rooted in magic, for some reason, you can't restore powers rooted in magic," Danica said. "Bit cheap, I know, but hey, you can't have everything."

A few more memories flooded back to Danica. She rose to her feet and threw herself into Harry's arms.

"And if you bond me to you, it could create the charge to restore my powers, Speed Force, or not," Danica said. "And it isn't the first time we've done this, well is for you, but not for me, because this worked before. Why wouldn't it work now?"

Harry raised his eyebrow. She kissed him fiercely on the lips. Harry wrapped his arms around her. His hands explored her body, cupping her ass on the way down.

"If it works, great," Danica said. "If it doesn't, well, I get laid while I'm back in time. And I wouldn't be the first woman to go back in time for a booty call from you."

Danica realized what happened. She almost opened her mouth, but Harry responded by kissing her again. His tongue found hers, and his hands touched her ass. She backed off for a few seconds.

"We're going to have to create a lot of energy for this work," Danica said. "So, don't hold back, okay?"

Harry looked at her, with an amused look on his face. He could have laughed, but he decided not to.

"If you're thinking I'm going too fast, don't worry, it's kind of my thing."

Danica groped Harry, smiling when she felt him reacting to her touch. The nineteen year old depowered speedster started to stroke Harry.

"Well, if you want energy, I can give you plenty."

"It's want I want," Danica said. "It's what I need."

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: Paradox:**

* * *

As with all encounters involving Harry Potter, Danica experienced a refreshed feelings. The speedster's renewed vigor caused her to bounce off of the walls. At least for a moment, but she could get a lot done in a moment.

Harry viewed her efforts with a smile on his face. The blur bounced to the left, to the right, and pretty much everywhere in between. A nice streak developed, but Harry stopped her before she could get too far. His arms reached around her and wrapped around her waist. Danica skidded to a stop. She rested in the strong arms of her lover. A slightly distressed look appeared in her brown eyes.

"Too far?" Danica asked.

"Yes, you should learn your limits," Harry said.

Danica wanted to snap her fingers and try and tell Harry her limits had been lifted thanks to her. She stopped and remembered all of the trouble not thinking she had limits caused her. Including being sent to the past in the first place, and she also became bounced to the future.

Speaking of the future, Danica wondered something.

"Not, I don't mind being around, but….we have to figure out a way to send me back home," Danica said. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love it here. And it does have it's perks."

The speedster stopped for a moment to lock eyes with Harry and grin at him. Harry relaxed his hand around hers. She relaxed a little bit herself in response.

"But, as they say, there's really no place like home," Danica said. "And I'd like to see it again. I've made a lot of friends, a few enemies, and a few people who are no doubt throwing a party I'm gone, but….the future needs a Flash, and the past….will get one someday."

Harry pressed his lips on Danica's. The act doubled as an attempt to reassure her she would return home, but it also served as a bit of a reminder of not to divulge any details of the future. She already let a few too many slip. Nothing too big, thankfully.

"Thanks," Danica said. "I can be a bit of a motormouth. Times where I don't know when to shut up….where I just blurt out the first thing which comes to mind. Kind of like right now, I'm blurting out things."

Harry lifted a finger to her lips.

"Until you return home, there's a place for you here," Harry said.

"I bet you say that to all of the girls," Danica said.

Mostly because Harry did tell all of the girls there was a place for there. Danica couldn't help, but bounce up and down at super speed.

"All we have to do is retrace your steps, and it shouldn't be too hard to send you back home," Harry said. "Is your memory still fried?"

Danica slumped her head down. Harry reached towards her, grabbing her hand. She appreciated the effort.

"A little bit, not sure if it would be a bad thing or not."

At the rate she tended to blurt out the things she remembered, some important vital piece of information.

"I'm here to stop the Reverse-Flash though, from screwing up the universe with a headache inducing paradox," Danica said. "Which we just went over, before you fucked my brains out, so I don't think we need to go over it again."

"I think we can all take a raincheck," Harry said. "But, sit down, and I'll see what I can do. And sitting still does help."

Danica's lip stuck out in a pout. She hated sitting still, but she supposed it would have to do. Harry smiled and placed his hands on either side of her mind.

"So, you're not going to do some kind of mind tentacle thingy with me, are you?" Danica asked. "Because, while it would be kind of hot, it would be kind of weird."

Harry raised his eyebrow. He didn't quite have his mental probe be described as some mind rape thingy. It was fitting, in some weird way, he guessed.

"Just trying to access your most recent memories, back until the point where you traveled back in time."

Danica could accept Harry accessing her more recent memories. She did her best to relax her mind, something which always moved at its own super powered speed on its own. She hitched in a breath, smiling. The probe didn't feel like much of anything. Hell, if Harry didn't inform her he entered her mind, she wouldn't know he entered it at all.

Weird, to be honest, but Danica decided to just roll with the punches, and see where they brought her. He entered deep into her mind, brushing against the surface. Seconds passed as Harry worked himself into the depths of her mind.

"Sorry, my mind can be a pretty scary place."

Danica's eyes closed shut, and Harry pulled away.

"We need to head to the point of entry," Harry said. "And if there's any residual energy, it should be enough to give you a backdoor."

The word backdoor hit Danica with the force of a speeding freight train. She raised a hand in an attempt to palm herself directly in the face. She stopped not to look absurd.

"I just hope no one followed me back."

She spoke words no one wanted to hear. Harry prepared for anyone who followed her back. A future villain in the past could cause a lot of damage.

Harry decided to use a very modern method, the Internet, to pull up any reports of carnage in the city. With a forced smile spreading over his face, Harry realized he hit the jackpot and not in the good way either.

 _'Of course.'_

Harry braced himself for what happened next. Danica suited up as the Flash.

"If there's trouble, you're going to need my help. Besides, it's my fault. I was the one who didn't configure my time tunnel properly, and leave you in this mess in the first place."

* * *

The criminal dubbed Paradox arrived in front of Star Labs. In his time, a monument to 21st century scientist, pretty much abandoned. Almost a museum of the Flash, but the real Flash museum existed elsewhere. It sickened him to be honest.

Paradox consulted his gauntlet. The energy coming from the museum caused him to know he had what he wanted.

"Yes, Doctor Wells, I know you're in there," Paradox said. "My gift allows me to determine shifts in history, and I know you're not yourself. The Flash's time table will be sped up, because of your meddling. And I cannot allow it. For if the Flash comes to pass earlier than I expected, then my existence is compromised."

Paradox intended to correct the problem by ensuring the Flash never had been born in the first place. He put in the equation for the variable. The result was an entire timeline where he can conquer.

"All the times the Scarlet Speedster and the successors to the mantle caused me, even in the 31st century, I couldn't escape it," Paradox said. "And an entire legion of do-gooders formed as well….well they won't exist. The Flash is a founding member, almost the conscience of the Justice League. Without the Flash, no League exists."

"The joke's on you, if you think you're going to get away with whatever it is you think you're going to get away with."

Paradox's head snapped up, giving the newest arrival a fairly ugly glare. He could scarcely believe his eyes. A wild Flash appeared.

"Paradox, we meet again," Flash said. "I should have known you'd be after a time tunnel."

"Ten thousand different ways my future can end, and none of the ideal ones involve you," Paradox said.

The criminal lifted a hand in the air and started to blast. Flash dodged the blasts, and punched him in the face.

Paradox slammed down onto a set of trash cans, before causing an energy field to manifest around the Flash. She slammed her fists into it, but could not escape.

"I can slow you down," Paradox said. "How, will you like it when I kill Wells? Once he dies, I will watch you slowly fade into oblivion. Because there will be no Flash legacy to pull you out of the abyss."

Danica tried to reach him. Everything moved at a super slow motion. Except for his taunting words, those penetrated her head so deep it hurt. Danica tried, in vain, to claw her way out, but found herself up a creek without a paddle.

Paradox turned, but another blip in his gauntlet came off. He noticed a figure dressed in black appearing in front of him. Paradox experienced fear for the first time.

"What is this anomaly?" Paradox asked.

He scanned, and stepped back. The Reaper appeared in front of him.

"You're causing the time stream to unravel," Paradox said. "Therefore, you must be unraveled."

A beam of energy cut through the air, to blast his adversary back to the stone-age.

Only his enemy blocked the beam of light with one extended hand. The enemy stepped back, agitation going through his eyes.

"It's impossible!" he yelled.

"Very possible in fact," the enemy said.

A wave of energy shot through the young man's hand and lifted him off the ground. Paradox slammed against the wall.

"You're him, aren't you?" Paradox asked. "You're the one they all fear….yes, you're causing shifts in the time stream to benefit your future with your mere presence."

"Yes. It's what I do."

Paradox flipped over the top of the dumpster. He too some great air time and slammed onto the dumpster. Not being counted out yet, he used his costume to heal his wounds. He retracted a red energy blade.

"You're willing to match blades with me? Have it your way."

In a second, the Dragon withdrew a sword in a flash of fire. Paradox clung his high tech energy blade, created in the 43rd century. The two of them clung together, grinding together. The enemy disarmed Paradox, in more ways than one.

"Time to send you back to your own time," the Dragon said.

The man's arm regrew because of his unique abilities. The Dragon activated a switch on his suit, causing an influx of energy to spread over him. The energy contorted around his body, creating a swirling vortex.

Sitting up, the criminal tried to stop him.

"Flash, would you like to do the honors? Give the spark?"

"It'd be my pleasure," Flash said.

Flash charged Paradox and punched him. The energy burst him to be blasted back into the waiting arms of the Flash's friends in the future.

The Flash smiled, talk about light at the end of the time tunnel.

"So, I guess now I can go home," Danica said.

"You're going home?" Harry asked.

"Don't sound too broken up about it," Danica said.

"Could have sworn you had some kind of mission, some kind of Reverse-Flash, or something?" Harry asked.

Danica snapped her fingers for a second.

"Yeah, right, well, turns out it confused me, I wasn't going after him….turns out he's not anywhere around here," Danica said. She lifted a scanner device and scanned around. No trace of the Reverse-Flash's genetic signature. "I can't sense Eobard Thawne anywhere."

Danica clapped her hand to her mouth, realizing she outed the Reverse-Flash and his secret identity. It didn't really matter, because he hadn't been born yet, but still.

Harry only had one question.

"What kind of name is Eobard?"

"One from the future," Danica said. "But, I have to go…..I'm sure the Flash of your time, whoever he…or she….and not saying it's a person either, is….will be something magnificent."

"Well, whoever the Flash is, they left a legacy behind," Harry said.

Danica knew her speed force substitute wouldn't last forever.

"I need to check with my friends…and I'm sure you're going to be there to tell me how much I screwed up…you know, future you," Danica said. "It was nice meeting you…and I'll see you again in about a thousand years."

Danica kissed Harry to shut herself up, and sped into the time tunnel, just before it collapsed down on her.

Harry frowned, he did wonder….but he figured he would worry about it later. He would say it had been a weird day, but he had much weirder.

* * *

Dinah Laurel Lance tried to ignore the aching pain in the back of her leg as she walked back from her training sessions with Lady Shiva.

Lady Shiva, to put it bluntly, acted like a complete callous bitch. The older Lance sister experienced aches and pains all over her body. Nothing which left visible bruising, because Shiva fancied herself to be an artist, an artist of pain, and the young woman happened to be a piece of clay where she intended to sculpt her into a warrior.

Or end up killing her in the process.

Three months, Laurel trained under the watchful eye of Lady Shiva. The woman waited for the bus station. She checked the time and almost cursed.

 _'Guess, I'm walking home tonight.'_

Laurel put her hand on the pepper spray she carried. Second nature from the daughter of a cop to prepare herself, especially considering all of the lunatics her father took down. Some of them threatened his family.

She didn't have it as bad as Barbara, who was kidnapped about nine times before her sixteenth birthday. Granted, about four of those times, she ended up making sure the criminals received the worst end of the exchange.

She shifted her head back an inch. Something moved in the shadows.

 _'Likely a cat, no need to get shell-shocked.'_

Not a cat, but a man dressed in red. She noticed tattoos visible on the side of his neck, he missed a finger on his right hand.

Dinah dodged his attempt to stab her at a moment. She wondered if this was one of Shiva's stupid tests.

She grabbed him around the arm, but couldn't get the leverage. He flung her down to the ground. The woman dodged the knife and sprayed him in the eyes.

She kicked him in the face. The assassin staggered. He made a motion with his hand.

A dart caught Dinah Laurel Lance in the side of the neck. The woman's world started to become all fuzzy.

She either saw triple, or three of the assassins started to surround her. The poison caused her body to turn numb. Her legs collapsed out from underneath her.

Another figure swooped down. Dinah's ears rang for a moment with a sonic attack, which launched the goons.

The woman's vision became blurred, and she saw only the outline of the figure in the darkness. The figure swooped down, and cracked one of the assassins down on the back of the head. Another assassin spiraled down to the ground and the sound of bones cracking filled the woman's ears.

It became hard to breath. The woman swooped down onto her.

"Sara."

Unconsciousness followed soon after.

Sara leaned down, and looked at her sister. She looked at the red bruise on the side of her neck, signifying the entry point of a poison dart. She bent down, and tried to ease her burden with some herbs.

Harry drilled into her to be prepared for anything, and thanks to him and Nyssa, she recognized most poisons.

A siren appeared in the distance. Chances are, it might be her father, and Sara didn't think he could handle it. Coming across his oldest daughter, an inch away from death, so soon after Sara "died."

No hospital had the capabilities to cure her, but Harry did. Making a decision, Sara reached down. She summoned all of the strength, dragging Laurel's dead weight off of the ground.

"Hang on, sis, I know you're strong enough to."

Sara refused to let her die, even if she had to move heaven and earth. The Yakuza bastards who did it, they worked with Cain, another thing he had to answer for.

* * *

Harrison Wells sat in front of the computer in STAR Labs. He sensed change, and when Harry Potter walked into his life. He read the official records, all seven books worth, reaching the end of the epilogue, so to speak.

"Nineteen years later, all is well," Wells said. "Only all was not well, because all has changed in the future, hasn't it, Mr. Potter. What changed?"

Wells didn't think something so loosely connected to his future could affect things.

"Bring it up," Wells said.

Historical records amounted to propaganda pieces. This seven book chronology of the early life of Harry Potter only told a fraction of the story.

Regardless, Wells punched up the information. He found the reference he looked forward.

"The veil, naturally, the veil changed it all, and caused a temporal wave which reshaped the future," Wells said.

He punched in more information. A headline saying Harry Potter weds Princess of Themyscira popped up. The Amazons proved to be a valuable army to him.

"And yet, what else has changed?" Wells asked.

He continued to type up more information. Each change allowed him to get a closer look at what he needed to do.

"Is there any way I can speed up the process?" Wells asked.

He brought up the information regarding the Particle Accelerator. Already, stretched to capacity, and it wasn't the Flash's time to be born yet.

"I can no longer wait," Wells said. "Each second I wait, is a second lost to the Reaper."

He never made the connection between Harry Potter and the Reaper. The young man came into his own and accelerated, about a hundred years after the seven year chronicles. His people proved to be long lived.

 _'It appears I'm not the only one who has moved forward plans. It took him far less longer to….cut his ties from certain forces in his life which held him back. He couldn't succeed with her domineering him. Can't say I blame him, but she's not without her fanbase.'_

Wells brought up the headline he obsessed over for some time. The one regarding the Flash disappearing.

He raised his eyebrow at the change which occurred.

 _'Need to speed things up, have to do it within the next year, not five….which means I may have to accept his proposal.'  
_

* * *

Alex Danvers returned home, they uncovered something rather interesting, well she did at least. She would need to phone it in, to make sure the proper protocol was established to pick it up.

Kara watched her older sister return home. She carried a box in her hand, covered up. Kara's gaze followed her sister.

"So, is this one of those…can't tell you because of protocol things?" Kara asked.

Alex turned her sister with a smile.

"Sorry, Kara, I can't tell you, because of protocol….hang on a second."

Alex placed the box down on the table. She received a phone call. Likely someone else found some high tech piece of alien equipment.

The woman walked off into the other room, away from Kara's sharp ears. Kara leaned against the counter, eyes on the mysterious box.

"Alex, really should know better," Kara said.

The teenager's curiosity increased as she eyed the box. The box lined with lead, the one thing her eager eyes couldn't penetrate. She frowned as she looked over it.

On the one hand, she couldn't touch it On the other hand, one little peak wouldn't hurt, would it?

Alex's voice rose for a moment.

"Well tell him if it's humming, to leave it alone….we don't need another incident like we had last month….Jenkins still hasn't woken up from the coma he's been put in!"

Alex's voice lowered to its previous softness. Kara took one of the metal clasps of the device.

Was it some kind of alien doomsday device? A bomb of some sort maybe? Maybe some kind of high tech radio?

Alex should really show her these things, because Kara knew about alien technology. And given the mess certain members of the DEO got themselves in, playing with things they shouldn't, Kara could have saved them trouble.

But no, treated like a child, who stuck her naughty hands in the cookie jar. She left Krypton as an adult, and pretty much was considered a teenager by Earth standards.

Kara opened up the box, one little peak surely wouldn't hurt.

She flung open the box. A glowing red rock laid in it. It looked like the world's tackiest ruby, and Kara couldn't believe she risked her sister's wrath to steal a look at something like this.

Kara touched it, and lifted it briefly. The red rock glowed through her hand.

"Well, it really isn't worth all of the secrecy, is it?"

She yelped suddenly. A piece of the rock splintered into her hand. Kara closed her eyes, and slipped the rock away.

"Damn," Kara said.

She reached into the drawer, pulling a pair of tweezers out. Kara removed the splinter from her hand and disposed of it, before Alex returned.

Kara's finger dripped a little blood, but her finger healed. Her eyes tinted red for a few seconds, not she noticed it.

The thought of doing something daring crossed Kara's mind. Alex returned, none the wiser, as Kara slipped away to have some fun.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter Thirty: Not Your Traditional Reunion.**

* * *

An emergency call from Sara brought him back from Central City. Harry figured if it wasn't thing, it was not the other. He didn't bother to fly back through the conventional ways, although given his resources he could arrange to show himself leaving the city.

He wouldn't pull such a stunt had this not been an emergency. And Harry only knew to pull such a stunt about a handful of times, if he wanted to accomplish his goals.

Sara waited for him. She lead Harry inside.

"It's Laurel."

Harry could see how shaken she was. Sara leaned down. Straps restrained Laurel to the bed. Cass bent over her, tending to her wounds. The woman turned around, her hair whipping back out of her face. Cass reached and gripped Harry's hand.

"I'm doing the best I can to stabilize her," Cass said. "The poison will kill her at best….you don't want to know the other consequences."

Ideas entered Harry's mind. None of them any good, but regardless, Harry reached down. He closed his eyes, performing a scan over Laurel.

"Her time isn't quite up yet," Harry said.

Sara let out the breath she held in with a whistle. The younger Lance sister slumped and gripped Harry's hand. She tightened her hand as hard as possible, not wanting to let go, regardless of any dire consequences.

"Which means, she's heading in the direction of the worst case scenario."

Harry brushed his finger gently over the wounds where the poison entered. Had he been here, he could have stopped this from happening, thanks to his abilities. Cassandra and Sara did the best they could given their resources.

"I don't know what to do now," Sara said.

"As long as there's a will, there's a way," Harry said. "I'm sure you figured out who did this to her."

Late Friday night, early the next morning, time sped up pretty fast. The chilling looks Sara and Cass exchanged told Harry one thing was for certain. Both of them knew precisely who was behind what happened to Sara. Harry switched his gaze to both girls.

"My father, or rather men under his employ," Cassandra said. "And it wasn't an accident either….even less of an accident given who Dinah has been seeing."

"Who has she….."

"I recognize my mother's handiwork anyway," Cassandra said. "She will learn how to fight, or she'll perish. If there's a warrior spirit locked beneath her, my mother will get it out."

Sara wasn't too pleased. The only person Nyssa ever showed the slightest amount of fear by was Cassandra's mother. People spoke of Lady Shiva in the lowest whispers, calling her the deadliest woman in the world, and for good reason. She sparked terror into the hearts of men, and a multitude of women as well.

"My father intends to get underneath my mother's skin by going after one of her pupils," Cassandra said. "He'll bleed for what he's done."

"Cass," Harry said. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "We will bring down your father for the role he's brought in all of this. But, you'd be playing into his hands. I know he's hurt you."

Cassandra folded her arms. Hurt her might have been a rather gross understatement. Her father tormented the early part of her childhood. Harry's firm grip didn't conclude on her shoulder. Rather, he tightened it, forcing Cass to stare him straight in the eye.

"But, he wants to ruin your life," Harry said. "And he's made a new enemy today."

"Not just you," Sara said.

"Not just me," Harry said.

Harry wondered what Cain's end game was. The past six months, Harry hunted the man down, but he slipped through the cracks and avoided detection. While he wasn't nearly as good as Cassandra's mother, he showed his skills in situations like this. Harry did wonder what he would do.

Regardless, he turned to the young woman who laid, hovering an inch away from being pulled under.

"Drastic times call for drastic measures, I think," Harry said. He turned to Sara. "But, do you think I should do it?"

If Harry had not been in Central City, and found her within ten minutes after being poisoned, his tears might have saved her. With the type of poison, it crippled her immune system to the point where there was only one thing which could have saved her.

"You're going to have to, if you have to," Sara said. "I don't want the alternative….if she dies….this will destroy my father….because I have to be dead until my mission is complete."

"You don't have to," Harry said.

Sara appreciated the sentiment. She leaned towards Harry and pressed her lips against his with a short, but passionate kiss. The woman pulled back from him, a shadow of a smile passing over her lips.

"I appreciate your thoughts," Sara said. "But until the bastards behind this burn, they'll go after the ones I love….and I can't let it happen."

Sara placed her hand on Harry's.

"And I won't let my sister die. Do it."

Harry walked over towards a vault. He pressed his hand. It only opened to his signature, for security purposes. The vault took several seconds to scan Harry. Given the means to deceive, the scan ran pretty deep. Even magical methods could not replicate the DNA past a skin-deep level.

The chances of someone impersonating Harry with a polyjuice potion happened to be pretty low, but they still existed. Harry wouldn't take any chance they would.

The vault clicked open. Several items Harry uncovered after dismantling HIVE rested. A few pieces of technology which he had yet to adapt, a gift from Faora, also rested on the shelves of his vault.

In the very back, the most dangerous item in the vault shined in Harry's face. The formula liberated from the vessel, the very same which he used to save Rose. And now it would be used to save Sara's sister from suffering a slow and agonizing death.

The poison Cain used had been derived from the same potion Zabini used on Ginny. Harry offered Ginny the Mirakuru to restore her abilities, but she declined, telling him to save it for someone who it'd help. Besides, she thought her magic would slow her down now, and who was Harry to argue.

"Prep your sister for surgery."

* * *

Harry waited, twenty four hours, give her take, he would know the results. He made his way into the lab, settling in for what appeared to be a long night. Sara sat on the couch next to him, closing her eyes. Cassandra's intense training could be heard underneath them. Given how intensely she struck the punching bag, Harry didn't have to think too hard to realize who she imagined striking in the lab.

He waited for a moment. It was a bit past ten in the morning. He dialed a number in Central City, and waited.

"Hello?"

"Caitlin, it's me," Harry said. "Sorry about what happened last night."

"Oh, the….mystery girl with amnesia thing?" Caitlin asked. "I kind of want a better explanation, but I have a feeling I'm better off not knowing."

"She came from the future, to hunt down a criminal, although the criminal she looked for wasn't here," Harry said. "So, I sent her home…and I was about ready to meet you….when I got a call. A friend suffered an emergency which landed her in the hospital."

"Oh my god, is she fine?" Caitlin asked.

"She's recovering, but we'll know in a few hours whether or not the surgery took," Harry said. "I had every intention of calling you but…."

"No, I understand," Caitlin said. "I really understand…and…last night….well, never mind."

"What?"

"I thought I came on just a little bit too strong," Caitlin said. "I couldn't help myself."

"You wouldn't be the first woman, you won't be the last," Harry said. "And I didn't exactly discourage you."

"Well, I didn't expect you," Caitlin said.

"What, is it because I'm a guy, and couldn't help myself?"

A long pause followed over the phone. Harry took a few seconds to imagine the sheepish look spreading over Caitlin's face after she realized she put her foot firmly in her mouth.

"Shit, I fell into a really outdated way of thinking, didn't I?" Caitlin said. "Because, as we know, women can't help themselves most of the time, and had we not been in a public place….well….you know."

"Just take your time, and take a deep breath," Harry said.

Caitlin took a moment to get together her facilities, before she pressed on, hopefully not embarrassing herself this time around.

"Blame the feminist roommate I had," Caitlin said. "Half of the time, I wanted to smother her with a pillow…..and…well, you know, just so she'd shut up. Have you ever known anyone with someone with a stick wedged so far up their ass, you wanted to beat them with it?"

"Yes, a couple," Harry said. "Most of them in government."

"But, she….I swear….men couldn't do right, even when they were perfect gentlemen, they were up to something to corrupt poor women who didn't know any better," Caitlin said. "Come to think of it, she had about as poor of an opinion on women as she did of men."

"Most feminists do," Harry said.

In desperate need to get laid, but they wouldn't with the attitude they kept.

"Wish I could make it up to you," Harry said.

"Well, when's the next time you're in Central City?" Caitlin asked.

"If nothing comes up, I should be able to swing by next weekend."

Caitlin found herself crossing her fingers a little more than she should.

"I hope you're not crossing your fingers," Harry said.

"Well no, I'm not crossing my fingers….I'm just hoping you didn't invoke the wrath of Murphy."

Harry frowned, he and Murphy did have the type of relationship where Harry would have a fair amount of trouble. Things improved when Harry took control of the League of Assassins, but there were moments where everything went at once.

"And if you're back in Starling City….you better be careful," Caitlin said. "They're really intending to put down the vigilante….you know, the person who is shooting everyone with arrows."

"Hmm," Harry said.

"Which, good for her, only city who has a crime rate worse than Starling is Gotham City, and Gotham shouldn't be in the running, because it's Gotham," Caitlin said.

"Well, there's Bludhaven," Harry said.

"Yes, and Bludhaven is like Gotham if all of the joy got sucked out of it, so it doesn't count either," Caitlin said. "Anyway….I'll talk to you later, I have some work to do….but thanks for calling me. It really took a load off of my mind."

"No problem, talk to you later."

"Hopefully, I'll see you real soon."

"Oh, you will see me real soon."

Harry rested the phone down on the cradle. Sara shifted her leg.

"Latest conquest?" Sara asked.

"If you have to describe her as such," Harry said. "But, Caitlin's going to be a valuable resource….turns out it's a good thing she has the job with STAR labs, because….spies are about as important as anything in our field."

"She's a valuable resource, which will be your latest conquest," Sara said.

Harry smiled, he couldn't really argue with her statement there.

Sara was glad to have something to distract her from the current situation regarding her sister. All women deserved better, and since Harry was the best, they deserved some time with him. Granted, it wasn't all men other than Harry were bad, but….they just weren't the best.

"Nyssa will be back soon, won't she?" Sara asked.

"Nyssa, can handle anything which comes her way," Harry said. He smiled as he leaned towards Sara. "There's some rogue loyalists to the old way the League did things who simply won't let it go."

"Do you think they might join up with Cain and Merlyn?" Sara asked.

"It would mark them for death even faster," Harry said.

Merlyn was the top of his list, but the man surrounded himself with security. Not he couldn't handle himself in a fight, but Harry defeated no less than Ra's Al Ghul in battle.

"Aren't you going to kill them sooner rather than later?" Sara asked. Harry raised his eyebrow at her. "I know, priorities."

Harry figured Nyssa saved him the work, being the devoted wife she was. Megan helped tip them off a little bit, and Ginny sent Nyssa word their hunch ended up being right. Overall, the League functioned as a well-oiled unit.

The waiting game followed regarding Dinah though. Harry figured she would survive, but would she be well? Rose's demons caused her to be a little hard to manage, but Harry figured out a way to manage her. She currently worked, helping with new recruits. Her abilities formulated her as an able fighter.

Plus, who better to help cement loyalty to Harry than the most fanatically loyal follower.

* * *

Artemis checked the address for the penthouse. The name Morgan Edge flashed in her mind's eye. Edge, a media mogul who made his foundation for his empire in Metropolis, moved into Starling City to attempt to do more of the same here.

Bastard covered his tracks almost too well. He worked with Merlyn, although the two of them weren't too close. Being in the media, Edge's resources may have uncovered some blackmail, or at least some information she could use to put an arrow into more of Merlyn's allies.

As the circle shrunk, the magician entered the center ring.

A group of goons sat down around the table, playing cards, drinking beer, and just having a grand old time. Through the window, Artemis had the perfect shot.

The habit of people in Starling sitting near the windows, which made her life a lot easier. Artemis aimed the arrow for the window, preparing to fire and strike her target.

Only a figure blurred into the window past her. The windows shattered. The goons looked up and noticed a figure hovering high above them.

The hovering figure grabbed one of the goons and punted him into the wall. The other two goons experienced a brutal attack which launched them into the table.

Artemis broke the window and entered. She faced the enemy.

"Step away from them," Artemis said.

"Stop me."

Three arrows shot at the hovering woman. Three arrows burned from the heat in front of her eyes from the red and yellow clad attacker's eyes. A figure grabbed Artemis around the neck and slammed her through a second window. She dangled high above the streets.

"Do you realize what I'm doing?" she asked. "Do you?"

"Tell me, so I can figure it out," Artemis said. She closed her eyes, wincing underneath the girl's grip. This close, Artemis received a close look at her face, and it was quite shocking. She hadn't seen the girl since her time on the island. "Wait, Kara?"

"Call me Flamebird," she said. "I'm the companion of Nightwing, and I'm helping him complete his work. When I find Merlyn, I'll rip his head off and gift wrap it as a present to him."

Artemis dangled over the streets. She need not make any sudden movements, unless she wanted to impact into the pavement.

The woman slid down, bouncing off a ledge. She nearly flew over the side of the building, but landed on the building.

Artemis closed her eyes, and adjusted herself. The battered goons inside had been assaulted, without any abandon.

 _'Almost like someone removed her inhibitions, and turned her loose on them.'_

Not completely though, she had loyalty to Harry. She seemed more bent with her loyalty than Rose did. Not she blamed Rose, given all she went through, Daddy issues and all. The Daddy issues, Artemis couldn't blame her.

She ignored the sounds of the police. The woman dropped down onto the ground, taking a long breath, before slipping into the alleyway.

Once Starling's finest passed her, Artemis took a long breath. So far, she had been one step ahead of them. Her League training, and being on an island for three long years caused her to develop certain tactics. One of them happened to be survival.

"Harry?" Artemis asked.

"Yes," Harry said.

"We have a bit of a situation."

"You don't say?" Harry asked.

* * *

Alex shuffled in, after watching the television. The reports of a mysterious blur entering Starling City, and assaulting men working for Morgan Edge hit her. The woman brushed the lock of dark hair out of the side of her face.

"No, Kara, please….what did you do?"

Alex knocked on the door, hoping Kara was in her room.

"Kara, if you're there, open the door, please," Alex said.

No answer followed. Alex unlocked the door and entered. She noticed something rather peculiar on the dresser in Kara's room. A white rag, soaked with blood.

Given Kara's invulnerability, something making her sister bleed caused Alex to quicken her steps. She knew sooner or later, her agency would look into the blur incident, and realize something was up.

If Kara had been uncovered, some people would have to answer some unfortunate questions. Some of them would put her parents in a bad light, and she would lose her job, if she was fortunate.

Alex noticed a red sliver of rock on her desk. She frowned, it belonged to the rock which she brought home. Which Doctor Milton Fine uncovered, and asked for her to store for a few days, until he could pick it up, and continue his studies on it, whatever they might be.

A pad of paper rested out of Kara's desk. Someone scrawled contact information on it. The contact information pointed towards Harry Potter's office.

Alex never talked to Harry, but something told her he could help her before this situation spiraled out of hand. She didn't have many other options to turn to.

She double checked the number and left the room, preparing to dial him up. Not only did desperate times call for desperate measures, but time was of the essence.

* * *

For a brief moment, Laurel thought she died. A couple of moments passed before thoughts pulled together like a not so sophisticated network of webs. The Yakuza goons attacked her after her training from hell from Shiva concluded.

Then, she could have sworn she saw Sara. Perhaps Sara appeared before her, during the moment of death. Confirmation, both of the Lance sisters died, at least in her mind.

The woman's eyes opened, with a bright light. After all she been through, especially in her life, it ended like this.

Sara sat at the edge of the bed. Her hands rested underneath her chin. Eyes perked up when the woman opened her eyes.

"Don't worry, Dinah, I'm here," Sara said. She grabbed her sister's hand. "Don't try to speak…you're not dead, I'm not dead….I never wanted you to find out this way….I didn't want you to be in danger….not knowing it was never in my hands to keep you out of danger."

Dinah looked at her sister. She survived the Gambit. Nine long months passed and she assumed Sara died.

She opened her mouth to say something. Only a vibration shot up her throat, and a loud shrieking cry came out instead of the question she intended.

The cry knocked Sara backwards from her chair and caused several windows to shatter. Glass flew in every direction, but an invisible force stopped the broken glass from cutting the Lance sisters to ribbons.

Sara hunched over onto the chair. Blood dripped from her ears. She closed her eyes and experienced an aching feeling from them.

"I didn't expect this side effect."

Harry turned up and touched his hands to Sara's ears. The young woman's ears healed, and she shuddered because of the energy flowing them.

"So, did it work?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Sara said. "I wasn't expecting my sister to….and I'm sure she wants to ask a question."

Harry pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. Dinah took it in her hand and scrawled off a sloppy bit of handwriting.

"Still has bad handwriting, you never do change," Sara said.

Harry allowed himself to read the message she wrote him.

"I'm sure you want to know what's happening, don't you?"

Dinah nodded.

"Try not to speak, at least right now," Harry said. "I'll get you a temporary fix, until we figure out a way to control your powers. But, I have a long story which….."

His cell phone rang. Harry thought another problem manifesting itself would be his luck this weekend.

"Talk to you in a minute," Harry said.

He made his way into the next room, noticing a news report about the attack at Morgan Edge's penthouse, where Artemis headed off to tonight.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"We have a bit of a problem."

Harry noticed an image of a blur. The young man clenched his hand.

"You don't say….hang on, I have a call on my other phone."

Scooping up the phone, Harry took it.

"Hello, my name is Alex Danvers. I know we haven't met, but you met my sister, Kara. And I really need your help."

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter Thirty-One: Crimson Fever.**

* * *

Harry frowned as he heard the news coming from Alex. He appreciated the call after everything. Ever since he met Kara on the island, he understood the potential her power offered. Harry couldn't even begin to gauge the full potential of it. With Faora, Harry started to guess the type of power Kara offered.

"Are you still there?" Alex asked.

Harry entered one of the labs. He started to activate a camera. Pressing a couple of buttons, a screen flashed in front of Harry. He took a closer look towards the radar, gauging to see if there was any hyper fast people flying around the area. So far, Harry detected nothing of the sort.

"Yes, Alex, I'm still here," Harry said. "Other than a sighting earlier, your sister is remaining under ground."

"So, she's staying out of trouble," Alex said. "The rock really must have altered something in her mind."

Harry didn't say anything. Until Kara made her next move, she wouldn't be found unless she wanted to be found. And if his calculation was correct, she would want to be found, at least as far as Harry knew.

"Yes…it's imperative no one knows she's even missing," Harry said.

"Believe me, I know," Alex said. "It's a miracle no one found out about her runaway when she ended up on the island. She wasn't as subtle as she was here."

Harry didn't say a word. He walked around the lab, trying to find some equipment. He wanted to fasten together a device for Dinah which would help control her vocal patterns. He wanted to study how her vocal cords worked up closer, to see if he could do anything to control them.

He was sure it didn't spontaneously happen because of the chemical. Something inside her was triggered by the chemical. Rose's powers enhanced in the same way.

"I'm just worried about her," Alex said.

"Kara can handle herself well," Harry said. "Almost too well….someone of her powerset, she could do a lot of good in the world. And people won't understand it."

"If you find her….I don't know how I can repay you," Alex said.

Harry fit together a miniature cannon, which he really hoped he didn't have to use.

"How did you say Kara's powers went haywire?" Harry asked.

"I didn't," Alex said. "It's my fault….well not really, but I left a box I brought home from the office around."

"Teenagers will be teenagers," Harry said. "She took a peek, didn't she?"

"She took a peak, and she pricked her finger," Alex said.

"She shouldn't have been injured by anything, unless it had a Kryptonian origin," Indy said.

"Did she draw blood?" Harry asked.

"She drew blood," Alex said. "Is this a secure line?"

"The most secure I can make with my resources," Harry said.

"Because, I need to ask you a question, and it's personal," Alex said. "Are you from around here?"

"I'm not being investigated, am I?" Harry asked.

"I'm not liable to say you're being investigated," Alex said.

Harry, fluent as he was in government double speak, red between the lines. He wasn't an alien, at least to the best of his knowledge, but something unique laid within him. Perhaps he wasn't meant to understand or explain right now.

"Thanks for answering my question," Harry said. "And I understand the tough position you're in, and I wouldn't want to do anything to compromise your job…..hopefully some of them are as enlightened as you are."

The only sound Harry heard from the other end of the phone was a not so subtle snort coming from Alex. Harry grinned, but didn't say anything.

"If you hear from her, call me," Harry said. "Oh, and one more thing….do you think you can tell me what color the rock was?"

"Red," Alex said. "Is it of significance?"

"Yes, it causes mood alterations to people like Kara," Harry said.

"It means it turns them into a different person?" Alex asked.

Harry closed his eyes for a second and smiled.

"I wouldn't say it turns them into a different person. It brings a more liberated version lying beneath us. It could turn a girl scout into a hellcat for instance."

"Well, Kara isn't what I'd call a girl scout," Alex said. "And to be honest, neither am I, but…you will do everything to bring her home."

"I have a few favors which should help me keep your people off of Kara's trail, not she hasn't given much of a trail," Harry said. "The most important thing is we keep this out of the press, before they get too creative with it."

Alex knew all about how creative the press could get.

"If you want to meet me in person….."

"I might have to," Alex said. "If you find anything….call me on the number I gave you, alright?"

"The second I find out anything about Kara, I'll be on the phone," Harry said. "Don't worry."

Harry hung up the phone. The door opened, and Faora stepped inside.

"We knew about Green Kryptonite existing on Earth," Faora said. "And we've taken steps to eliminate it….before it causes the survivors on Earth….the real question is, does the DEO know about the other survivor in Kansas?"

Harry thought for a second. He couldn't even say.

"They're keeping their cards close to their chest," Harry said.

"We'll find her, won't we?" Faora asked.

"I'm keeping her in mind," Harry said. "I know she'll go after the people on the list, she saw it just as well as Artemis did. Morgan Edge's henchmen were the first, but Edge himself is a bigger prize."

"Edge, why would some television person even be of interest?" Faora asked.

"He's in more businesses than television," Harry said.

Edge's fingers were in gambling, drugs, and weapons trade. He ran things in Metropolis, using his television and media empire to fund everything he did on the side. Now he looked to expand into Starling City.

Expansion came with a price. Harry returned to functioning the collar, keeping his eye on the scanner.

* * *

Despite the many things on his mind, Harry still had business on his own mind. His recruitment extended past the League of Assassins. Only so many problems one could solve by stabbing a knife through someone, before everything took a turn to the worse.

"I don't want to know what you did to convince her to work for us," Harry said.

Ginny turned around to Harry. It took her a long time to avoid smiling. The grin on her face made it hard for Harry to get too upset for her. He tried to maintain a stern look. Seconds passed before Ginny fell into a momentary fit of laughter.

"You've done something," Harry said. "You couldn't help yourself, could you, you naughty little witch."

"Technically not anymore, remember, power loss," Ginny said. "And yes, your offer is still on the table…."

"I do have ways to restore your magical abilities," Harry said.

"I've gotten used to not using them," Ginny said. "It would be a lot of work for me to learn to use them again. Besides, you know how capable I am without the spell casting. Feel a lot more at ease….and I'm not sure if my powers are gone, or more passive."

Harry raised his eyebrow at Ginny's theory. He would allow it for a bit. Her lips curled into a knowing grin.

"Well, I still don't know what you did to her….because I was under the impression she had her sights set on Queen Industries," Harry said.

"No threats, just opened her eyes to certain truths," Ginny said. "A little bit of simple seduction didn't hurt."

Cass walked up next to them. She found herself distracted by something, and Harry raised his eyebrow.

"Sorry, just thinking," Cass said.

Harry leaned towards her, a smile of sympathy crossing his face. The young man brushed his lips against hers. Cass closed her eyes, leaning in for a kiss.

"Do not blame yourself for anything your father did," Harry said.

"I thought he was dead for the longest time, but he's a snake, slipping out at the last moment," Cass said. "And if he's working for Merlyn….."

Cass trailed off, a bit distracted. Someone else made their way up the steps.

"Looks like your new prospect is here," Ginny said.

"And I trust you'll be on your best behavior," Harry said.

Ginny looked at Harry, almost hurt. She almost argued she was always on her best behavior. The door opened. An attractive blonde woman with her hair tied back in a ponytail appeared. She wore glasses and a very conservative red blouse. Her skirt came down, but when she moved, it showed a hint of a very nice set of legs.

"Doctor Potter, it's an honor to meet you," she said.

Harry locked eyes with Ginny. He wasn't aware of the fact he picked up a doctorate during his time. Granted he intended to, in due time, to add to his credentials. He wondered what Ginny said about him.

"And you must be Ms. Smoak," Harry said.

"Please, Felicity, and….I've been following up on what you've been doing for a long time, not like I've been stalking you, because it would be creepy," Felicity said. She had a couple of stalkers in her day, and….well they had been kind of creepy. Long story, not too comfortable with her telling it. "I have to say, your personal assistant, she won't take no for an answer."

"She is fairly persistent," Harry said. "I have to admit, she really doesn't like taking no for an answer."

"Well, it's how I get things done," Ginny said. "And let's face it, you want to get behind Harry don't you?"

"Who wouldn't want to get behind him?" Felicity asked. "I thought Queen would be a good company, but….it's really falling through."

"The rumored scandals….well they're just rumors," Harry said.

He couldn't confirm nor deny his role in spreading said rumors. The investors confidence shook a little bit, at least enough for Harry to prepare to start buying stock at a bargain basement level when the bottom dropped out.

The resources Queen had proved to be well.

"I believe these are the terms you agreed to," Harry said.

Felicity received the contract. Her mouth opened when she looked at it.

"You want to give me this responsibility?" Felicity asked. "There has to be some kind of catch….not saying you're going to want me to sleep with you or something, but…..well people are going to talk if I start underneath you with these perks and benefits."

Felicity paused and shook her head.

"Figuratively speaking, of course," Harry said.

"Um, yeah, figuratively speaking," Felicity said. "But, people are going to talk."

"Let them."

Harry leaned towards Felicity. He was in close to her.

"And if something happens, it happens," Harry said. "But, I can assure you, I work my girls the hardest of all, if something happens. And I wouldn't hire you if I didn't know if you were up to it."

"Well, I guess I'm sold," Felicity said. "And you want to me to completely overhaul your computer system."

"I want the most aggressive security protection on the planet," Harry said. "If someone wants to hack into me, they're going to get bitten back hard. I want to know everyone who is looking into SLE."

"It could take months of testing," Felicity said. "Maybe a couple of years….I mean, the code shouldn't be hard….if I had a fully equipped team who knew what they were doing. But, there's the problem, the more hands in the pot, the more everything gets screwed up."

"You're only have the best of the best, Felicity," Harry said. "And I'm introducing you to your partner, which you will be working with for this project. This is Indigo, I'm sure the two of you will get along great."

"Hello, Felicity, I'm pleased to meet you."

A holographic projection appeared in front of the blonde. Felicity almost jumped a little bit. Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her down for a little bit.

The holographic project looked like a tall blue skinned woman. She looked like someone who cut her auburn hair practically shoulder length, which fit a nice little frame around her face. Her violet eyes looked towards her. She dressed in a fairly professional black button up blouse, with a skirt, although she had large breasts and wide hips. Not to mention legs which went down forever. Her blue skin shined in the light.

"She looks so real," Felicity said. "I don't…state of the art technology….something like this is….I don't know."

"Well, I'm sure you can figure out what I am," Indy said. "So, are you ready to help change the world?"

* * *

A silver haired gentleman dressed in a business suit walked his way up a spiraling staircase. He frowned when he reached the top of it. Not in the best frame of mind to be honest, after he lost a million dollar deal thanks to some mysterious blur.

The only thing which had been caught on camera was a blur. There was a blur running around Kansas, fighting the meteor freaks who were born after the meteor shower. The man hated anyone who became involved with his business.

Morgan Edge took over most of the media in Metropolis, but he now had his sights set on Starling City. Edge broadcasting prepared to buy up all of the news stations, and take over some of the business which would fund his operations.

The corrupt businessman read another report of one of his associates being found with an arrow in his chest. The vigilante worked her way up the food chain amongst the old crowd. It made his skin crawl such a thing could happen.

He doubled his protection. His old associate Merlyn seemed undisturbed, but the man could hardly be cracked.

Merlyn turned into quite the bastard after the death of his wife. Edge didn't know why he took it so hard. Edge had eight ex-wives, about half of them died under accidental circumstances. The police couldn't really prove anything.

Three knocks on the door signaled an arrival. Not trusting just the knock, Edge looked out of the glass. He saw Frankie, one of his top men.

"Come in," Edge said. "You better have some good news for me for a change. I'm about to go on the air in Starling at the end of the month, and I can't be having this shit go down at all."

"Well, sir, it's…it's the vigilante, she attacked two of your boys on the east side," Frankie said.

Edge thought about it.

"Put out the word, I want a bounty on her, one hundred million dollars for the first person who brings me the vigilante's head…"

"Sir, are you sure…"

"She'll come after me eventually, I want her dead before she figures out a way around my security," Edge said. "And make sure to be discreet, the police are watching my every move, and Merlyn is making difficulties."

"Why don't you have him killed, boss?" Frankie asked.

Edge took a long moment to look Frankie in the eye.

"As much as I hate to admit it, he does have his uses. And as long as he has his uses, he will remain alive."

Edge didn't want to admit the other part, the fact he wasn't sure he could take Merlyn down if he tried. It galled him someone was higher up on the food chain.

Merlyn's good buddy Cain also prevented Edge. The last person who crossed Merlyn, well Cain fixed them pretty good, at least it's what Edge heard through the grapevine.

* * *

Harry put in a fairly late night at the lab on Monday night. He almost finished up the collar which would allow Dinah to talk normally without shattering everything within a certain radius.

Sara and Cass sat on the couch next to him, and they talked in low voices about something. Harry didn't pay them too much attention.

"I don't know how you made it so no one noticed my sister disappeared," Sara said. "It's something beyond magic."

"I called in a favor," Harry said. "And no one notices Dinah is missing, because Dinah has been scene at her job."

"So, wait….are you trying to tell me….." Cass said. She paused and got it well. "I understand."

"What do you understand?" Sara asked. She understood in about a second later. "Oh, sorry, I understand too…shapeshifter, of course."

"Yes, of course," Cass said.

Harry didn't say anything else.

"She's been keeping an eye on things overseas for me, and I didn't want to call her in unless absolutely necessary," Harry said. "She's handy….because the world thinks she's dead…but her DNA altered into a state of being in stasis while healing for an injury. It was a shock when she woke up in a grave though."

Harry shook his head, and lifted the collar.

"It's not a permanent fix, but it should do for now," Harry said.

"I'm sure Laurel will want to thank you," Sara said. "Just like I did when you saved me."

"Well, technically, you're the one who saved her life, so she should be thanking you."

Sara smiled, in theory, yes. She didn't appreciate how attractive her sister was until she left for the longest of time.

A blip appeared on the radar. Harry almost didn't watch it, but it looked like a super powered figure had been on the move, at the speed of light.

"Do you think you can give this to your sister, and test it out?" Harry asked.

Sara would have protested the situation normally, because she didn't know what quite to say to her sister. She didn't say anything yet, or given any indication she was miffed at Sara. Still, Sara didn't look forward to talking to her sister.

"I appreciate it, and don't worry…I think she understands."

Harry's reassuring kiss sent Sara off. Harry dialed up Alex's number.

"Your sister is on the move."

* * *

Heavily armed men crowded around a crate. The group watched the crane settle down on the ground.

"Oh boy, I wonder what the boss smuggled in this time."

"You know the plans, we try and get it from one location to the other," the leader said. "No grandstanding….we have to move quickly….putting it in the back of this Ice Cream truck should allow us smuggle it in town nicely."

"I can't believe we have to do this so early in the morning, and in the fog as well."

"Well, would you rather the vigilante come down on your ass with vengeance?"

"No, and…"

The straps connected to the crate burned with heat vision. One of the goons looked up, in time to see someone nail him at super speed. The last thing he knew before the woman's fist broke his jaw.

"Get a light on her!"

Another super-fast punch knocked one of the goons down. One of the goons lifted up a pipe, and swung it at the figure.

A hand caught the pipe and twisted it into a pretzel. The goon flung down onto the ground.

"You're not going to succeed. Edge will be driven out into the open like the rat he is."

"Stay away from me, you freak!"

Another pair of hands grabbed him, and yanked him into the shadows. A punch nailed him in the side of the neck. It hit a pressure point, causing him to drop to the ground in an instant.

The figure stepped out of the shadows, and edged towards the blur.

"I was wondering when you would notice."

The Dragon stepped out of the shadows. The young blonde dressed in a red outfit, with a yellow symbol which resembled a flaming bird appeared.

"I hope you like the outfit, I made it myself," she said. "And we make quite the team."

"Kara?"

She leaned towards him and pushed him against the wall. Her lips pressed against his, kissing him hungrily. Harry couldn't deny the passions flowing from her and returned the kiss.

"Yes," she said. "I'm Flamebird, you're Nightwing, and we're going to bring order to a primitive people, and save the downtrodden. In turn, they will worship us. Several of their women already have pledged themselves to you, but they need more."

Harry noticed a small sliver of red, almost microscopic, protruding from underneath Kara's finger.

"Why don't we go back to my Fortress, and we can discuss our plans to change the world even more?"

Kara's grin followed by another kiss, where she suckled on his lip.

"I'd love to….I'd love to discuss our future plans, but….."

A blast from a building above interrupted them. The two of them looked up, and noticed a group of armored henchmen, better put together than the group Flamebird jumped.

Harry watched them, intrigued. The goons packed heat rays which looked like something out of some far off alien place.

Kara's eyes flared up, but she never hit her mark when an arrow caught one of the goons in the knee, causing him to fly off of the building.

"The vigilante….great, one hundred million dollars, bitches!"

The three heroines noticed a tank being rolled in. Kara rushed the tank at super speed, but didn't even make a dent in it.

"This might have been a trap," Artemis said.

Harry smiled. So it was, but who was being trapped.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter Thirty-Two: It's Called Destiny:**

* * *

Edge's goons surrounded the hooded archer. Artemis noticed them packing some rather heavy weapons. One of the weapons blasted over her head, destroying a large chunk of metal, melting it into a pile of goo behind her.

"Okay, don't get hit, good plan for any fight….FIRE!"

Artemis loaded up an arrow and fired at one of the goons. The goon doubled over when the arrow connected at his wrist.

Flamebird, noticing one of the goons trying to take a shot at her mate, saw red. Her eyes flared up with energy. Her heat vision sailed through the air. She tried to cut through the body armor. The thug yanked off the body armor, when it started to become too hot.

The heroine's attack left him open for a sharp sword swing from Nightwing. He jammed the sword through the back of his neck.

The Sword of Godric Gryffindor reflected the heat beam blasts back at the sword. He caught the energy blasts with the sword, and launched it back at the tank.

The tank exploded and flipped over. It crashed to the ground, starting to smoke in an ugly manner. The occupant of the tank escaped.

Flamebird punched him in the face. She grabbed one of the goons around the head and flipped him over. Another goon tried to blast her from behind.

"Head's on!"

The goon turned around when the Arrow aimed a sword at her. The momentary distraction allowed Flamebird to rush the goon from behind, and nail him in the back of the head. The heroine caused the goon to land down with a sickening crash.

Flamebird and Nightwing stood back to back. She took a deep breath, and kicked up a huge wind.

The wind caused dirt particles and debris to fly in the air. Nightwing smiled and took to the skies, the sword of Gryffindor in hand. He cut through the debris, super charging each individual piece.

The super charged pieces slammed into the chest plates of the enemies. Nightwing stabbed one of them full on, impaling the blade into his chest.

One of the goons tried to operate a radio. He fumbled with it in an attempt to start it up.

"This high tech piece of….you better work or…yeah, it's Louie we need….."

One arrow to his arm prevented him from calling. He doubled over, and the Arrow flipped onto the back of his head. She planted him head first into the ground.

The sounds of sirens could be heard. The Arrow tensed up, and locked eyes with Nightwing.

"The cops."

Flamebird turned towards the approaching squad car. If they were going after her mate, she would protect him at any costs.

"No, Kara."

Kara retracted her attempt to utilize heat vision at her mate's words.

"As you wish, my lord."

Harry wondered what effects the red rock had on her. He would have to look her over in detail. Also, these weapons Edge's men took.

"Distraction."

Artemis nodded, understanding how to be discreet, for the most part. She aimed the arrow up and pointed it towards a nearby lamppost. Drawing back her bow, the arrow connected with the light, causing it to ricochet.

A blinding flash of light blinded Starling City's finest as they turned up. The three ninjas disappeared into the night.

One of the goons rolled over, realizing they had no weapons, and the Starling City Police had their guns pointed to the goons.

Artemis slipped into the back entrance. Her mission didn't end just yet. The woman slipped into the back door.

Edge wasn't here, but something incriminating him could be. Artemis experienced tension. Without Harry to back her up, she needed to allow cooler heads to prevail.

"You're trespassing, Archer."

Artemis turned her head. A figure moved in the shadows with a precision. She frowned and loaded an arrow.

"Come out, and I won't put one between the eyes."

Laughter continued. A large imposing gentleman walked out, cracking his knuckles. His broad shoulders and tall figure showed him to be a formidable threat. Artemis stood on her toes, waiting for him to cross the room.

"You're playing with the big league now, kid."

Artemis fired an arrow at him. He caught the arrow in his hand, without even blinking.

"Good reflexes, but how fast are you."

Three more arrows shot at him. He dodged all of them at the same time, did a tuck and roll. He reached and grabbed her around the neck. The archer slammed into the wall head first.

"Fast enough to pull this little trick, girl."

Artemis gasped as his hand wrapped around her throat. The woman tried to move her arm. The lamp above his head might knock him out. If she shot the chain out.

"You know, this isn't my first rodeo. I've been working for Mr. Edge for years, and you aren't the first do-gooder to try and bring him down. Although the Robin hood motif is a nice touch."

The goon tried to pull her hood down. Artemis nailed him with a punch to the jaw.

"Ah, what's the matter? Are you shy? Don't worry, I don't bite."

Artemis fired an arrow towards the crowd. The arrow pierced through his foot, pinning him to the ground.

"Good, you're good, I'll give you…you're good," he said. He tried in vain to pull the arrow out o his foot.

"You'll be losing a foot if you don't tell me where Edge is."

The large goon laughed, and ripped the arrow from his foot. He nailed her in the chest, doubling her over. His large hand found her throat and squeezed.

Up close, Artemis noticed how much he resembled a Neanderthal, more than a modern man. Granted, her biology was a bit sketchy.

Her hood pulled off. The man backed off, a savage smile crossing the face of this particular vandal.

"So, not anyone of value. Don't be upset you couldn't beat me. I have far more experience than anyone on Earth at fighting heroes."

The bulky man lifted up Artemis and slammed her onto a wooden table. She closed her eyes.

A sonic cry caused the bulky man to stagger onto his knees. His staggered back.

Artemis's eyes flickered open. Sara stood over her. The archer groaned as Sara extended a hand to her head.

"What were you thinking?"

"I'm thinking my head is on fire," Artemis said. "And I might have a concussion…hey where did he go?"

The Canary didn't know. All she knew was the police were in here. Technically they trespassed on an respected man's property. It didn't really matter Edge was a proper asshole, not to them, and not to anyone else.

"This is nuts, he's got his fingers in everything dirty, and we're being hunted down like we're villains."

Artemis winced at the pain coming from her knee.

"I'll be fine, just…go," Artemis said.

"You aren't going after him!"

Sara dropped her professional demeanor when she was on the mission to yell at Artemis. Artemis realized she messed up in the worst way.

"Suppose you don't have an exit strategy."

Artemis braced herself for an attack. The police walked right past her. Not the first time Artemis experienced a too close and personal encounter with the boys in blue, but it frustrated her in any event.

"Of course," Sara said.

Time passed as the two of them exited the basement. Artemis realized none of this would be possible if she hadn't went inside to go after Edge. She was certain Edge had information about where her father is.

"I know I shouldn't have went in there without back up," Artemis said.

"You made a mistake," Sara said. "But, next time, don't let your personal vendetta get the better of you."

"Right, and I'll be sure to remind you of the same when you go after Cain," Artemis said. "You know ,with what happened with your sister."

The two of them narrowly avoided detection, slipping into the night. Too close for comfort, to put things mildly.

The two of them spotted Edge's bodyguard walk off. Sara didn't want to say anything, but something about his demeanor spelled trouble.

* * *

Malcolm Merlyn tipped back the chair near his desk. The security system around him informed him the second someone sneezed wrong in his presence. The man prepped himself for the arrival of Morgan Edge.

The doors opened and Edge stepped in. Merlyn rose to his feet and shook his head.

"You've had a close call tonight, Morgan."

Edge slumped down on the chair.

"You want a piece of what remains after the plan is done, don't you?" Merlyn asked. "You're part of the old crowd, the two of us, we don't go as far back as some."

"Not as far back as yourself and Robert Queen," Edge said.

Merlyn didn't say a word at a name of an old colleague being brought up. He reached and poured Edge a glass.

"Or do you know Moira better?"

Edge tapped the side of the glass of wine. Merlyn pushed it in front of him.

"You're a far lot more useful alive than otherwise, Edge."

Edge didn't really feel much love from Merlyn from the statement. The side entrance opened up and David Cain joined them.

"If you want a job right, this gentleman is the one to do it," Merlyn said.

Edge debated on what he was going to say.

"50/50, Morgan, you want broadcasting rights. I can give them to you, for a profit. All I need is your help when the night comes."

"When is the night going to come?" Edge asked.

"It can't be rushed," Merlyn said. "Moira played her part well, but….."

Cain flipped over the dagger in her hand.

"Still has her uses," Merlyn said. "The vigilante….for a brief second I thought Robert Queen survived the Gambit….and returned to gain revenge, when he misunderstood the scope of our plans."

Merlyn rose to his feet. He overlooked Starling City. The motion sensors in the building would have detected any arrows coming in. Not the archer could have stood up against him.

"You were wrong?" Edge asked.

Merlyn didn't say anything.

"The vigilante is most obviously female," Merlyn said. "The first few times are coincidence….but what she's done since, is enemy action."

"Someone on the boat took up the moniker," Cain said.

Cain studied the archer from afar, while keeping one step ahead of Sandra and her attempts to track him down. He molded Cassandra into a weapon, to be used in any way he desired.

The idiots who lost her ended up on the wrong side of a blade. Especially when Cain found out she ended up underneath the watchful eye of the League of Assassins. Cain and Ra's Al Ghul's relationship, didn't bode well.

"There's a new leader in the League of Assassins," Merlyn said. "Word travels slowly, but the man once known as Ra's Al Ghul is him no longer."

"But, the League hunts us more vigorously than ever before," Cain said.

Edge looked from Merlyn to Cain, to try and figure out what the two men talked about. He attempted to pick up code.

"And you have to stir the most dangerous woman in the world up," Merlyn said. "Do you realize what would happen if she intervenes in our plans?"

"She cares little about the plight of others," Cain said.

Merlyn didn't shout. He shoved his chair underneath his desk, turned around past Cain and past, Edge, walking from his office.

"What about our meeting?"

Edge's words stalled Merlyn from leaving the office. The man turned on his heel and leaned towards Edge.

"I've given you my terms. Don't back out yet."

Merlyn left and made his way down a spiraling staircase. He sat in an office for far too long.

 _'Time to tackle the vigilante problem on my own.'_

He stopped short of a wall, and decided to make one more phone call. The wreckage of the Gambit had been uncovered, and Merlyn intended to go over it with a fine tooth comb.

From what he learned, it landed somewhere near China. Only half of the crew had been accounted for.

* * *

Artemis closed her eyes as Harry started to patch her up. She knew she could have gotten a lecture of keeping her eye off of the ball.

"Not to make your night any worse, but Edge moved it before you got there. And he left before you did as well."

Artemis winced, and here she thought having splinters removed from her back would be the absolutely worst thing which would happen to her night. Harry proved her wrong.

"Anything on the beefed up bodyguard who tried to off me?"

Harry considered her question. He made sure all of the splinters were out of her back, and all of the wounds had been healed.

"He hit a note on my Master of Death radar."

Artemis blinked when Harry spoke.

"You're kidding," Artemis said. She stared Harry straight in the eye, seeing the serious look on his face. "You're not kidding?"

"No, I'm not kidding."

The young man turned around. Cass sat in the shadows, half bent over a map. Artemis wondered what she was up to.

"Why would Edge's bodyguard tick off a box in your mind?"

Harry thought she asked a good question. He expected to gain perspective from his willing servant all too soon. He had a feeling he found himself face to face with one of Death's more frustrating clients.

"He's long lived, likely," Harry said. "And you should get some rest. Sara is handling the patrol efforts tonight. If Cain or anyone else shows there face…."

"She'll let me know," Cass said.

Harry wondered if his girls took things a bit too personally sometimes. He didn't want to argue with them in the state they were in right now. Regardless, he needed to check another girl.

Given the state she had been in tonight, Harry wanted to make sure she was right. He made his way down the hallway.

"Perfect timing."

Alex Danvers walked inside. She made her way towards Harry, and could see he looked to be a bit weary.

"Busy night?"

Harry laughed at the casual nature of her statement. Alex frowned as Harry leaned towards her.

"One could say so," Harry said. "You might want to keep an eye out for something….it's in the job description of the DEO to ensure they protect the Earth from threats, right?"

"We do our best," Alex said. She paused. "Wait, are you trying to…."

Harry placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Morgan Edge is collaborating with some dangerous people, who sold some high tech weapons to his gang members. Kara helped me take them down, but….it's concerning."

Harry decided not to mention he swiped a few of the weapons so he could research and reverse engineer them for his own purpose.

"I'd pass on what you've found to my supervisor," Alex said. "Do you have anything tangible to help me?"

Harry slapped a folder in her hand which caused her to smile.

"Shipping invoices help…although Edge is smart enough to cover his tracks. I'm sure you're not the only government agency looking into this though….ARGUS is always hovering around."

The look on Alex's face showed she thought ARGUS to be a poor recommendation, and Harry always sensed tension between the two government organizations. Their work stepped on each other's toes with an alarming amount of regularity.

"Well, it's what ARGUS does," Alex said. "May I see my sister now?"

"Careful, she's a bit feisty."

Alex shook her head. She wouldn't be Kara if she wasn't a handful and headstrong, perhaps too headstrong for her own good.

"I know what I'm getting into with my own sister."

The door opened, with Harry having given her the proper warning. Alex stepped inside. She viewed Kara sitting in the room. Her blonde hair shined in the light. She wore a long shirt which covered her knees.

"Alex, I know you've been worried about me….but I'm better now."

"You're better now?" Alex asked.

"I shouldn't have touched the red rock, should I?"

Alex smiled and placed her hand down onto Kara's hand.

"I shouldn't have put the red rock where you could see it," Alex said. "Can't we say we're both at fault?"

"I can live with it," Kara said. "But, I guess green rocks weren't the only thing which came down with my planet when it….well you know."

Alex almost believed the rocks weren't the only thing as well, but she didn't want to say anything. Not only because the information she could give was classified, but because she didn't want to get Kara's hopes up.

"No, it wasn't," Alex said. "You're so strong, I forget…."

"You're strong with putting up with me," Kara said. "And don't let anyone say any differently, but you're beautiful. And I'm still…feeling a rush."

"You're feeling…."

Kara bounced up to her feet and caught Alex's lips in a not so sisterly kiss. Alex protested the kiss for a moment, but the sheer force of her lips engulfing Alex's prevented her from arguing against the kiss for too long. Their tongues fought together with an intense fury, battling back and forth.

"Yes, I'm feeling a rush, don't you feel it?"

Alex couldn't deny what she felt. Kara pulled away from her, leaving Alex's lips swollen from what she did.

"Kara, what did you…."

"I always wanted to kiss your beautiful lips," Kara said. "And I always wanted to have you….and if it's right in front of Harry, it's so much hotter."

Alex turned towards Harry. Harry smiled at her.

"There's one thing you should know," Harry said. "Kara's….predicament will have a few side effects."

"Define side effects?" Alex asked.

"Well there's a little filter in your mind which prevents you from doing a lot of what you really want to do, because you're afraid how people will react?"

"Yes," Alex said.

"The filter has been blocked."

Alex began to understand everything more clearly than ever before. Her sister was given her bedroom eyes, and Alex didn't feel as uncomfortable as she might have been.

"And you know, because the filter had been blocked….she's having…."

"I want to jump your bones," Kara said.

Alex shook her head. Leave it for Kara to be direct as she was. The young woman turned her sister. The two Danvers sisters locked eyes. Kara placed a hand on Alex's shoulder.

"You haven't had thoughts about me?" Kara asked.

Alex paused for a long moment. She shook her head. Kara frowned, and grabbed her around the chin. It wasn't rough how she gripped her, more like firm. She made Alex glance straight into her eye. Alex hated the effect Kara had on her. It made her want to do what Kara wanted to do to her.

"Are you sure you can tell me what you feel, while looking me in the eye?"

Alex backed away from Kara. Her sister's blue eyes locked onto hers, almost scanning her.

"I've had thoughts about you, but….I don't know," Alex said. "I mean you're my sister…and I know it's not by blood, but still….."

"Why are you hesitating?" Kara asked.

Alex threw her heads up into the air.

"I do have feelings for you which are well beyond sisterly feelings….but I shouldn't….because well I shouldn't…because it's wrong for me to think about you in the way I am. You're beautiful, you're perfect, you can…you deserve better."

Kara shook her head.

"Why is it wrong?" Kara asked. "Because people tell you? You can't tell me this is wrong."

Kara gave Alex another kiss on her lips. This time Alex didn't really fight the kiss. Kara's tongue explored her mouth. The young woman thought she lost herself to Kara's able tongue when it pushed into her mouth.

"Tell me it's wrong, and I won't do it again," Kara said. "Maybe you should be more in touch with your feelings….it's the perfect moment, and we have the perfect man here to share."

Alex thought Kara jumped quickly from taboo to threesome. Harry smiled and he walked towards Alex.

"We're not going to make you do anything you don't want to do," Harry said. His arm wrapped around her waist and held her in. "But, I need to ask you a question. What is it you really want to do?"

Alex experienced a rush through her body. Harry's body heat made her weak in the knees. This was really wrong, she barely even knew Harry.

"So what you don't know him, you've been drooling over him every time he's been on television for the past month," Kara said. "And don't think you haven't."

Alex couldn't really deny it. Those green eyes up close enchanted her.

"You can walk out the door, and I'm sure Kara and I will have our fun," Harry said.

Alex thought about the two of them together. Her panties moistened at the thought. Her nipples pushed against her top, and the woman doubted it was because of the air conditioning of the office.

"I think I should get to know you better."

The protests Alex put up were only token.

"Oh," Kara said. "I'm sure you can get to go Harry rather well, and quite intimately, but time for you to unwind. You're so tightly wound."

Kara kissed her sister's neck and licked behind her ear.

She used her super-fast hands to remove his shirt and tear his pants off.

"So, do you want the first taste, or should I take it?"

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter Thirty-Three: Mogul.**

* * *

 ****Dinah wanted to scream, but after the scare she experienced in the hospital during the last day, something told her screaming wouldn't be the best thing in the world. The young woman settled for stretching out in the bed, putting her hands behind her head. The woman took from the tray of food and took a piece of toast.

The young woman chewed on the toast and considered her lot in life. How would she explain this? Actually the answer hit her full on. No matter what, she couldn't explain it, because someone damaged her throat. The woman wanted to curl her fists in frustration and smash them through something.

The worst part to her was she knew Sara survived, and the two of them couldn't really hash out things because of the fact Laurel couldn't speak. She didn't even dare whisper for fear her vocal cords would break every bit of glass in the building.

The door opened, and Sara stepped inside. The two sisters locked eye to eye with each other for a second. Sara crossed the room and made a motion to fill her sister's glass of water.

"I really wish it didn't have to happen," Sara said. "I really regret going on the ship in some ways, but in some ways I don't….I didn't mean to hurt you. Sure, I was mad, but I didn't mean to hurt you."

Dinah knew, even though she couldn't verbally communicate to Sara. The woman hoped her non-verbal cues weren't anything.

"And Harry's going to help you get through your problem….we needed to use the formula to save your life," Sara said. "I guess it has a different side effect for everyone. And it does fit, you were always a screamer…or so I've heard. Shame I didn't have a chance to find it out first hand. "

Dinah folded her arms and stared her younger sister in the eye. A very obvious "not funny" look flashed through her eyes. A knock followed to bring the attention of both Lance sisters over to the door.

"Harry, come in….and I can't explain it, but I can sense when Harry's nearby….actually a lot of us can."

Dinah only could guess the answer. All of the weirdness which surrounded her, she could only begin to guess. She wanted to grow up to have a mostly normal life, but normality had been overrated as she found out.

Harry made his way into the room.

"Sorry if I'm rude, but I won't ask how you're feeling."

Dinah understood instantly. The young man placed a box on the bed next to her. She sat up and looked at it.

"It will solve your problems, and allow you to live normally, at least until you get your powers under control. And anything can be controlled before you ask. I'll teach you how to do so."

Mind over matter, Harry learned the lesson a long time ago. The older Lance sister opened the box and pulled out a black choker device.

"Sara helped me design it, there's a button on the side which causes it to grow transparent if you don't want people to see it."

Dinah flipped over the device in her hand. She didn't really have any problem with the device. Come to think of it, she really did like it. The woman pushed the device against the side of her neck and clipped it on.

"Got it?" Sara asked.

"Got it," Dinah said. "You're alive, I can't believe, you're alive….and I hate you for worrying me sick. What were you thinking getting on a boat with Oliver?"

Sara smiled at her sister. She was happy to hear her voice once again, even though they needed to utilize a work around to do it.

"You know, I don't think I thought much of anything," Sara said. "You have to admit, he could be really charming when he wanted to be. Which is why you put up with him for so long, and took him back a few times."

Dinah closed her eyes for a second and hated to admit it. Ollie's good points were good, but his bad points can make you wonder a few times. Then again, perhaps she couldn't fault him, being the stereotypical rich billionaire playboy he was.

"You moved up in the world," Dinah said. "Harry Potter…I should have known there was more to you than meets the eye."

"You're a bright girl, so I would have been disappointed if you didn't," Harry said. "As you might have known, there is more to myself and Sara which meets the eye."

"Yes, yes, I figured it out."

Dinah, now with her voice having returned, had several questions. She wondered where to begin, but the obvious question turned around to haunt her.

"So, you coming to me during the gym, it wasn't a coincidence," Dinah said. "You wanted to keep an eye on me….you wanted to see…..you sent her after me, didn't you? Lady Shiva….you had her train."

"I don't need to send Lady Shiva anywhere," Harry said. "Whatever plans she has for you, I couldn't even tell you. She worked with my organization in the past, but she's a freelancer."

"You should consider yourself blessed though," Sara said. "She doesn't see much in people, but if she trained you, she must have seen a whole lot in you."

 _'Yeah, wonderful, she saw a lot in me….if she beat the hell out of me because she liked me, I hate to see what she would have done if she hated me….actually, I don't want to know.'_

"The bastards who attacked you, they were employed by David Cain," Harry said. "Cain and Shiva, they had a past relationship, and they had a daughter, who is under my employ."

"You mean to tell me….you mean to tell me I was caught in the middle of some kind of dispute between former lovers."

Laurel hardly could believe such a thing. She massaged the side of her temple. A headache started to come on.

"You'll get used to it," Sara said.

Laurel frowned for a second. She didn't know what to think about it.

"And to answer your question, no, not really," Harry said. "Shiva is hunting down Cain because of what Cain did to Cassandra, their daughter. And Cain better hope I don't reach him first."

"I'm not sure what my former lover would hope, but I'm certain he's doubling his efforts not to be found."

Harry turned and noticed Lady Shiva standing outside of the doorway. Cass walked behind her mother, a moment of annoyance crossing her voice.

"I tried to stop her," Cass said. "She wouldn't take no for an answer."

Harry figured just as much. The fabled and feared Lady Shiva always refused to take no for an answer. Harry waved his hand to motion for her to come in. Shiva crossed the room, moving towards Harry.

"So, you've heard about the incident," Harry said.

"I wish to come here and extend my regrets to Dinah Laurel with what happened," Lady Shiva said. "Had I known Cain would have targeted her, I would have taken better steps to ensure you made it home well."

Dinah frowned. She almost thought Shiva sounded like she cared. She wasn't going to complain if she did. The woman crossed her arms.

"Sorry to offend you, but I thought it was a test."

"No offense meant," Shiva said. "But I think its best if you are left underneath the Dragon's care….he will teach you all you need to know, or you will fall."

"She'll succeed," Harry said.

Shiva leaned down towards him and allowed herself to lock eyes with Harry.

"You are able to get the most out of people," Shiva said. "I wish you the best of luck. Once I find Cain, I'll give you the information. It should be my daughter's right to slay him."

Cassandra stood up straight. She was surprised her mother offered her the luxury to be able to kill her father. She didn't really know what to say about what her mother offered. Turned out she had nothing to say.

"She's bad about not saying goodbye," Cassandra said. "Do you think she's testing me?"

Harry frowned and placed his arms around Cass's shoulders. The young assassin relaxed back into him for a second.

"I don't know, you tell me."

Cassandra frowned, no fair really throwing the ball back into her court. The woman's nails brushed together as she leaned in.

"The only thing for sure about my mother is nothing's for sure," Cass said.

Like it or not, Cass didn't know her mother as well. She knew one thing, her mother pretty much threw out the invitation in her face.

 _'If you need to face your own personal demons, face them.'  
_

* * *

Malcolm Merlyn paced around in his office. The man hated to be left for a meeting, especially when it came at such a premium.

He thought about the entire vigilante mess. Merlyn hated to admit the entire mystery had him confused. He thought at first he knew who the archer was, but at this point, he didn't know who the archer was.

Merlyn verified enough to know the archer wasn't anyone with the last name Queen. He tapped his fingers on the side of the desk.

"He's here to meet you."

A buzzing sound indicated Merlyn's guest would be here to meet him.

"Send him in."

The door opened and a very intimidating man entered his office. The man's silver hair came down past his shoulders. His silver eyes glowed without any indication of life or light flashing to him. Several rings dangled from his fingers. The man carried a large case, one which he set down on the case.

"Mr. Edge informed me you have the component I needed," Merlyn said.

"I have it," he said.

"Well, give it to me," Merlyn said.

"I need to know you aren't going to double cross me."

Merlyn sucked in his breath, hating when people argued with him. The man flexed his fingers for a second. Calmness reached his body. He made a movement to reach underneath his desk, but the man shook his head.

"No, let, Mr. Edge do it, when he arrives."

Merlyn didn't know what to make of this gentleman. Was he so paranoid he thought Malcolm was going to shoot him? Actually, Merlyn appreciated someone who exercised sense, even though he worked with Morgan Edge.

"You know, we're working on the same side, Mr….."

"Ares," the man said.

"Oh?" Merlyn asked. "Like the Greek God of War?"

"Yes, I've heard the comparison as much as you've heard the comparisons towards the famous Magician of lore," Ares said. He noticed footsteps approaching. "And our friends have arrived, so we can discuss names later."

Merlyn rose to his feet from behind his desk, peering out of the doorway. Morgan Edge returned, and he was followed by his bodyguard ,and David Cain, who walked behind them.

"I've had a discussion with my bodyguard…..Mr. Ares, what a pleasant surprise seeing you here!"

Merlyn sensed formality between Edge and Ares. The two gentlemen shook hands with each other. Ares caused the elder businessman to stagger back half of a step. The force of his hand wrapping around Edge caused him to hurt.

"Merlyn has a package underneath his desk," Ares said. "Do you think you can have your bodyguard retrieve it?"

Merlyn wondered why Ares would trust Edge's bodyguard more than he would trust Merlyn, or Edge even. Merlyn debated a couple of things as he moved forward.

"Here you go, Mr. Ares.

The package found its way into Ares's hands. He opened it up and noticed the contents of the package was as he suspected.

"Is it to your satisfaction?"

"Yes," Ares said. "And as promised….it's been a pleasure doing business with you."

Ares left the room the second he had what he wanted. He wasn't the type to stick around. Merlyn didn't spend any added effort in chasing him down. Something about the man caused him to view him with a supreme amount of distrust.

"He's not exactly the most reassuring type in the world," Edge said. "But, he knows where his bread is buttered."

"If you say as much," Merlyn said. "We need to do something about the vigilante, before she reaches us."

"Well, if you don't want to do anything personally…." Edge said.

"Send the Sportsmaster her way," Cain said.

Merlyn raised his eyebrow. On one hand, the Sportsmaster was a rather skilled individual. On the other hand, the Sportsmaster tended to veer off the beaten path.

"He might be a loose cannon, but he could do the job."

Merlyn looked out of the window. For a brief second, he thought someone stalked him. He reinforced the panes on the window of his main office so no bullets could break through them.

Something stalked him from afar. Many times, people accused Merlyn of being paranoid, and having delusions. Ever since his wife was killed, he became a changed man. He trained himself to be the very best.

Then he returned with one mission, to save this city. Merlyn realized the conventional ways weren't working, therefore deals needed to made. He longed to acquire leadership of the League, but someone beat him.

The legend of the dragon reached Merlyn. He regarded it as little more than a fable, but given the whispers returning to him, the legend could be real.

 _'I know many other legends. A well-trained magician can slay any dragon.'  
_

* * *

Thea Queen walked the hallways of the rather barren Queen manor. She thought about the last six months which were. Her mother changed a little bit, and took control of Queen Industries, even though her grip might have been slippery at best. She refused to let go just yet.

The young Queen heiress allowed herself free run of the house. She wasn't sure it would be such a good idea, given the tendency to keep herself in trouble.

Thea reached over and picked up a newspaper. The latest exploit of the vigilante, being found breaking into Morgan Edge's penthouse, and true to form, another rich bastard played the victim, despite involving himself in several dirty dealings. Thea read the news how the police hunted down the vigilante, but they had no leads.

 _'Obviously they don't have any leads, because she's so much better than any of you are….I don't even know why.'_

Thea's theory of who the vigilante was, well she honestly thought there might be more than one. Or she really was so good.

Regardless, Thea decided to fix herself a drink and something to eat. She gazed at the clock, well past midnight. The time where most people in her crowd likely were on the town, but she found herself in a mansion, by herself.

 _'What am I doing with my life?'_

A fair enough question Thea thought. She started to tap her fingers on the edge of the table and raise the drink to her lips. She allowed the refreshing chill of the drink to hit the back of her throat.

She called Artemis earlier, but she hit the woman's voice mail. Thea leaned back on the chair and thought shooting something with an arrow would have relieved the stress she felt. Archery turned into her anti-drug fairly quickly.

 _'Given some of the things I could have gotten into….Ollie was a really bad influence on me…but hey, at least I'm not sleeping with everything with a skirt and a pulse….not yet anyway.'_

A sound of tinkling glass caused Thea to jump up to her feet. The Queen Heiress stepped out into the hallway.

If someone dangerous was here, Thea really needed a way to defend herself. She flung open the closet door, where her bow and arrows were. She slung the quiver over her shoulder.

 _'Are you nuts? You should call the police, you're not the vigilante.'_

Maybe not, but Thea thought her aim was getting better. She squashed the one sensible echo of herself, the one she didn't even know still existed, but somehow did. Talk about a revelation for her.

She noticed a light on. Making sure she kept herself armed and her back against the wall, Thea made her way to a slightly opened door.

Her mother's home office, which remained locked to everyone. Thea had never been allowed inside, because as her mother told her, it was business and she didn't need to concern herself with it.

Thea didn't concern herself with it, because she found the actual business aspects to being boring, but the fact someone found the business going on in her mother's office to be interesting enough to ransack it caused Thea's interest to spike to another level.

The woman shifted herself on her knees, aiming her arrow. The door opened to reveal no one inside.

Thea both relaxed and at the same time, experienced a crushing wave of disappointment. After all of the build-up, she expected ninjas, or something along those lines.

She noticed her mother's computer on and Thea frowned. Wasn't this pretty curious, well just a little bit? Thea didn't know.

Whoever tried to hack into the files didn't get very far, or maybe they did. Thea wasn't a computer hacker by any means.

Thea sat herself down on the chair in front of the computer and cracked her knuckles. She sat down in front of the computer screen.

She knew how much trouble she would be in, if someone found her trying to access Queen Industries confidential files. Even though, it was kind of Thea's birthright to be able to access Queen Industries confidential files.

 _'Let's see here.'_

Thea tried to recall the friend of Laurel's who would be able to hack into anything, or so she heard. She asked her to help hack into the school system to change her grades one time, but she refused to do so.

Barbara, Barbara Gordon, of course, it was her name. She was the daughter of one of the few halfway decent cops in Gotham City. Not like he could be too honest to live up to this particular moniker.

Thea had a sense her mother hid something vital from her. Was it regarding the Gambit going down? Thea didn't know, but she had to find out.

She dialed up a number on the cell phone. It was a gamble calling up someone this late at night, but Thea was willing to roll with the punches and see what it brought her.

"Hello."

"Is this Barbara Gordon?"

"Yes, it's me….and…."

"You might not remember me, but this is Thea Queen."

"Oh, I remember you, Thea, I remember you asking me to hack into your school's computer to change your grades."

Thea shook her head.

"I didn't wake you up?"

"No, you didn't….what do you need?" Barbara asked.

"Someone has broken into my mother's office, and tried to hack onto her computer," Thea said. "I'm not sure, but I think the file's heavily encrypted."

"Is your mother around?" Barbara asked.

"No, she'll be out of town until at least next week," Thea said.

"So, you're home alone?" Barbara asked.

"Yes," Thea said.

"Did you call the police?" Barbara asked.

"What good would they do?" Thea asked. You didn't have to be the World's Greatest Detective to sense the exasperation in the teenage girl's voice. "I don't particularly enjoy getting snarky comments about how I'm throwing wild parties, and trying to cover it up with some break in story."

Barbara sighed, she supposed it was fair enough.

"I'll be there in the morning…keep your eyes opened. Someone really dangerous could be after the information on your mother's computer."

Thea knew as much, she had enough common sense, contrary to what some people thought, but still she looked towards the broken window.

She noticed an arrow on the floor. A note had been tied to the arrow. Which mean the arrow had been shot through the window after the break-in.

Thea picked up the arrow and unrolled the note.

* * *

Artemis returned from the Queen Mansion. She hoped her little break in act would catch the Queen Heiress's attention. Artemis ran from rooftop to rooftop, and quickened her pace the further she moved.

Cass and Sara followed her, disguised.

"So how are you feeling?" Sara asked.

"Annoyed," Cass said. "We searched all three, not a trace."

Sara wondered if they could even find David Cain. All indications pointed to the fact he did the actual sabotage of the Gambit going down, and Sara wanted to be there when Cass took him down. If Cass allowed her a shot for trying to drown her, all so much the better.

 _'Worked out well in the end, but the principle of….whoa!'_

The sound of whoa caused Sara and Cass to back off. Cass smiled, as several dark clad assassins surrounded her.

"Bad night," Cass said.

One of the assassins didn't say a word. His tongue may have been cut out to make him more efficient and silent. He withdrew a blade and rushed towards Cass. Cass dodged the attack from the assassin.

A swiping motion from her blade took the assassin out. The other started to attack her one at a time.

Sara dodged the throwing daggers. She did a forward roll and bounced up to a standing position. Extending her arm, Sara nailed one of them flush in the face to double over her enemy.

Artemis turned around. She aimed an arrow, and fired one at the ground. The arrow released a sticky foam, causing the goons to be stuck in place.

Another figure dropped down from the sky and nailed Artemis with a punch across the face. She doubled over, as he drilled her with a club.

The figure dressed in a sleek blue track suit, with a hockey mask over his face. His blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. The man held up a bowling bowl and flung it.

Sara and Cass dodged the bowling ball. It slammed on the roof and caused a miniature explosion. The two girls dodged out of the way, avoiding the falling debris. The debris forced them to take the high ground

The assassins joined them on the rooftop and more came from the shadows.

Artemis made her way to her feet and fired an arrow at her enemy.

"It's been a long time hasn't it, baby girl. Let's see if the island truly made you good enough to defeat me."

The hooded archer stared down the man, recognition dawning on her.

"You!" Artemis yelled.

"When Merlyn informed me, I knew it could only be you. You killed all of those people to draw me out, well, guess what, baby girl, Daddy's home."

She went in for a kill shot with the arrow, but the Sportsmaster dodged it. He hurled a handful of spiked objects towards her.

"And they say Jacks is a girl's game."

The exploding spiked objects forced Artemis to abandon her pursuit in putting an arrow in her father's throat.

Sara and Cass could handle themselves, Artemis needed to focus on bringing her father down.

"Okay, you caught me off guard, let's do this proper."

She fired three more shots, but her father dodged them. Artemis received a huge punch to the stomach, which caused her to smash into a stone gargoyle and topple over the edge of the building.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter Thirty-Four: The Game Plan.**

* * *

Sportsmaster vanished into the darkness, which caused the Arrow to follow her. This action left Cass and Sara with the unfortunate task of having to throw down with Sportsmaster and his goons. The two of them looked at each other for a long moment.

"Three on the left?" Sara asked. Cass answered with a knowing nod. "Three on the right? And yes, I know they're highly skilled mercenaries….despite working for some nutcase named….."

Sara held the thought when one of the highly skilled mercenaries rushed her in an attempt to punch her lights out. The assassin avoided the attack and went behind the man's back. She folded his arm behind the back and wrenched it with violence. The mercenary dropped to a knee, and Sara backed off, hitting an unarmored enemy with a death blow.

One of the mercenaries rushed Cass from the right, while the other one attacked her from the left. Cass flipped into the air and avoided the attacks from the mercenaries as they attempted to take her out. Cass grabbed the mercenary by the arm and wrenched it back, breaking it and preventing a further attack. She disarmed the blade from another, before she stabbed it into his arm, and then jumped up with a kick to the face.

Several more mercenaries joined them on the roof, wielding a variety of weapons. A dark figure dropped down onto the roof next to them. The mercenaries backed up in time to go face to face with the Dragon, who stared down at them with malicious and glowing eyes.

"You know who I am," Harry said. He spoke in a soft voice, never once raising it past just above a whisper. He didn't need to talk. "And if you know who I am, you also know how much your chances of survival have just been reduced."

The mercenaries stood still around a circle and weighed their options. They all tried to charge the Dragon at once. The man who ended Ra's Al Ghul stood there as calmly as possible, and caused them to all be knocked down on the ground.

Sara jumped up and grabbed one of the mercenaries around the back of the neck, before drilling him with a knee. The young woman locked eyes with Harry, who raised an eyebrow.

"Let you have all of the fun?" Sara asked. She stabbed one of them in the gut and dropped the mercenary to the ground. If he received medical attention, he would survive. "Hardly."

Cass didn't say much, but with swift precision, she nailed her enemies. They all slumped to the ground for the longest moment.

"More?" Cass asked.

"You want more?" Sara asked.

"No, there is more," Cass said.

Several mercenaries, who looked more well-armed and well trained then the ones they fought before descended down to the ground.

"But, yes, I want more," Cass said.

"Some people, don't learn," Harry said. He stared them down. "One chance to back off…..if you know what's good for you."

"We've come to send a message," one of them said.

Cass realized these mercenaries didn't work for the Sportsmaster. The young woman stared them down, recognizing the tattoos and the missing fingers as well.

"I have one to send to my father," Cass said. Her eyes shifted and the woman smiled. "But it takes one person to send a message."

Cass took a blade and stabbed through the chest of one of the nearest adversaries. The adversary dropped to the ground, blood spurting from his chest when he hit the ground. On the backswing, Cass drilled the nearest enemy as hard as possible.

Sara's face coated with sweat when she continued to fight her adversaries. Well-trained described this lot pretty nicely. She decided to even the odds with a well-placed Canary Cry device.

The mercenaries ran forward, and Sara threw the device to the ground, realizing they had ear protection of some sort. Deciding to do this the old fashion way, Sara slammed a fist into the gut of her adversary. A series of punches rocked her adversary, one final huge punch doubled over her enemy, and dropped him to the ground.

A wave of energy lifted them off of the ground. All of them slammed down onto the ground. The Dragon rose up to a fraction of his power. His full power terrified many men, but the twenty percent or so he used terrified them.

"You could have taken the out easily at any time?" Sara asked

"And deprive you girls of the opportunity of getting an excellent practical exercise to keep your skills sharp?" Harry asked.

Sara smiled, given the circumstances, she couldn't really deny Harry. Regardless, Cass moved over and grabbed the one man who had been left breathing

"You did say you only needed one man to deliver a message."

* * *

Nyssa arrived back in town. She had to check on a few things, including how her younger sister's mission in Gotham was going. Turned out to be rather dismal for the looks of things, even though the Wayne heiress looked to be a potential recruit, if they played her cards right, but that was another story for another time, and Nyssa knew it was part of a long term game. At least it's what her husband told her.

After a long moment, Nyssa made her way back into the building. She barely managed to avoid tripping any security traps.

 _'Wonderful, beloved, upgrade the security when I'm gone,'_ Nyssa thought. _'Still has a few holes, but we'll work through them, won't we?'_

Nyssa ran into someone, and she took a step back in recognition.

"You're Sara's sister, aren't you?" Nyssa asked.

"Yes," Dinah said. She looked over her. The woman looked like she had been hell for a little bit. "And you are…."

"I'm Nyssa Potter," Nyssa said. "The wife of Harry Potter, well one of them, anyway."

"So, I owe Barbara five dollars," Dinah said with a groan. "She said Harry had a harem."

"Well, the proper term is a collective," Nyssa said. "But yes, Harry has multiple wives….and for good reason. Why would he allow superior women to linger with their inferiors?"

Dinah frowned for the longest moment. The reasoning had been along the lines with what Sara told her to a moment.

"Mind I ask what you're doing?" Dinah asked. The firm gaze of the other woman looked at her. Dinah Laurel Lance tried not to be intimidated, but the woman before her looked like she could eat her for lunch. "If you're looking for Harry….I think he left….."

"I'm looking for Harry, and your sister as well," Nyssa said.

"Sara's out as well, I think," Dinah said. She racked her brain for where Sara might as went. She was out of it, recovering from her ordeal.

Nyssa paused for a long moment and looked towards the older Lance sister, with realization slowly dawning on the woman. Nyssa leaned closer towards her and allowed a frown to pass over her face.

"You have the look," Nyssa said.

"The look?" Dinah asked. Her eyebrow raised up and a lot of confusion spread over her face. "The look, what look, what are you talking about?"

"Harry gave you the serum," Nyssa said. Dinah took a moment to look at her. Nyssa realized how it could have sounded and smiled. "No, it isn't innuendo for something, but….Harry had to give you the serum, for something."

"I ran into trouble," Dinah said. Nyssa lead her into a gym area. "Some goons attacked me…they were on the orders of someone named Cain….Cassandra's father, you know her, right?"

"All too well," Nyssa said. The woman leaned over the back of Dinah, and smiled. "But, if Cain is after you…it must have been because you were training underneath Lady Shiva."

"Yes, she trained me," Dinah said. "It's a wonder she didn't kill me."

"Well, if you survived her training, you must have something special," Nyssa said.

Dinah frowned ,she wouldn't consider herself to be too special at all. Granted, she held her own in battle. The woman looked over her, almost as if trying to size her up, or maybe start undressing her with her eyes. Dinah couldn't really tell the difference to be perfectly honest. A frown crossed over her face.

"There are very few things which terrify me," Nyssa said. She reached in and flipped Dinah's blonde locks back out of her face. "But Lady Shiva is one person who does terrify me. And many haven't survived even one counter with her. She must see potential, and….the Dragon does as well."

Nyssa moved behind Dinah and slowly ran her hands down the woman's shoulders. Dinah closed her eyes and experienced the hands of Nyssa rolling all over her shoulders. A shiver spread over her shoulders, with Nyssa rubbing her shoulders down.

"You need to relax your tension, to be all of what you can be," Nyssa said. She pulled back at her. "Your sister was pretty tense as well, but never this tense. And Harry and I helped her work the tension out….and you still have some issues regarding Sara, don't you?"

"Yes, a few, but I'm getting over them," Dinah said. "I can't believe….well it doesn't matter, right now, does it?"

"Does it matter?" Nyssa asked. "If I had to make a guess, you were angry Sara left when she did….and with Oliver. One could see you were jealous…but were you jealous of Sara, or were you jealous of Oliver?"

"It doesn't matter now, it's in the past," Dinah said.

"Depending on what answer you give, it might be," Nyssa said. She moved into the center of the room. "Let's see what Lady Shiva taught you…but be warned, I won't hold back. And you shouldn't hold back neither."

Dinah Laurel Lance experienced a swelling of confidence and also daring, she couldn't really replace? Was it because the serum she had been injected with? She didn't know, and really didn't care.

"Bring it," Dinah said. She smiled and the two of them went into a battle stance with each other.

Nyssa wanted to feel out how far this one got, but she would be League material. Plus, if she knew Harry, he liked to complete sets.

* * *

Artemis pulled the green hood over the top of her head. All of the time on the island, she waited for this moment to get her hands on her father.

"You want to get me, well here I am."

The Sportsmaster stood in front of Artemis. The woman armed an arrow at him and stared him down.

"I should put an arrow right in the middle of your foul face right now," Artemis said.

"If you wanted to kill me, you could have," Sportsmaster said. The villain stepped towards her and eyed her. "But, you should be thanking me. Because if it wasn't for the time on the island, you would have been soft, wouldn't you?"

"We'll see how soft I am, father," Artemis said. An arrow fired at the Sportsmaster, but he dropped down and dodged the attack.

Sportsmaster pulled out a javelin and hurled it at her. The bow knocked out of her hand. He pulled out a baseball bat and swung it at his daughter.

"Spare the rod, spoil the child," Sportsmaster said.

"You drove our family apart with your bullshit," Artemis said.

"If your mother didn't try to walk away, none of this would have happened," Sportsmaster said. "I didn't mean for it to escalate it this far….she tried to stop me from seeing my children."

"Yes, because you really cared," Artemis said.

"I only wanted the best for you girls!" Sportsmaster yelled. He nailed Artemis in the stomach and rolled her down to the ground. "But, you never understood how I prepared you for the world out there."

"Really, Jade left when she had the chance, I should have followed," Artemis said.

Sportsmaster tried to nail her with a golf club, but Artemis blocked the attack. The woman bounced up to her feet and clocked the Sportsmaster with a huge punch to the face. The Sportsmaster took about half of a step back, but a grisly smile spread over his face.

"If you want to fight, then fight me," Artemis said. "I don't know what you want me to prove to you, but….I'm not the little girl you left on the island any more."

Artemis reclaimed her bow and quiver, before firing a shot at Sportsmaster. Sportsmaster dodged an attack with a duck and roll. He launched an explosive looking weapon at Artemis. Artemis arched back, with the ball slamming down onto the ground.

The archery themed heroine jumped high into the air and nailed her adversary high across the top of the head with a kick. Sportsmaster backed off and she aimed another kick. A chain flung out, wrapping around Artemis's ankle and Sportsmaster tugged her. Artemis almost slammed down onto the ground from an immense impact.

The result of this attack didn't go exactly as Artemis planned. She rolled out of the way of an attack.

"You've learned some moves, but I taught you a lot of what I….."

An arrow disarmed the adversary of the club in mid-monologue. Sportsmaster avoided an attack from his daughter and knocked her back down again.

"Yes, I taught you a lot, but I didn't teach you out to land flat on your face on the ground," Sportsmaster said. He removed his gloves and threw them down. "Time to see how much you learned, when I….."

A figure teleported in front of the Sportsmaster which stopped him in mid-sentence. The man almost dropped his arms, horror and awe spreading through his face. A tiny bit of reverence followed in his voice.

"The Dragon?" Sportsmaster asked. "I thought they said you were only a myth."

The Sportsmaster stepped back for a moment and managed to calm himself down. A crisp smile spread over his face.

"It's a myth I need to….."

Artemis recovered and fired three arrows at the Sportsmaster. The first two arrows caught the Sportsmaster flush in the armor and barely even did anything to him. The third arrow caught him in his stomach in an area which wasn't as heavily armored.

"I learned a few things," Artemis said. "One of the most important things is not to turn your back on an enemy."

"You aren't going to kill me, are you?" Sportsmaster said.

"The wound isn't fatal," Harry said. "Unless you want to make it so…the choice is yours."

Killing someone happened to be one of the things a person couldn't turn back from. Out of all of the people Artemis put arrows through, her father had a bit of a personal angle to him. Before Artemis could make the decision, Sportsmaster flung himself off of the ledge of the building. A loud crack echoed which signaled the sound of a person's neck snapping.

Sportsmaster's limp body flew over the side of the building, crashing down to the ground. It left Artemis and Harry stare down at his broken body, more questions entering their mind.

Now, though, the two of them needed to get back and figure out what their next move would be. Artemis suffered a few bruises in the battle. Could have gone worse if it wasn't for Harry's timely intervention, it could have gone much worse.

* * *

Barbara responded with a low whistle the moment she looked over all of the files on the computer which Thea showed her. Thea turned around to Barbara, trying to gauge what was going through the other girl's mind. One thing crossed Thea's mind though she couldn't help but saying out loud.

"Let me guess, I really stumbled upon something right there," Thea said.

"Yes, you did," Barbara said. "There are some really dangerous people your mother is working with, I'm not sure how she got involved with them….but she's in one of those situations where she's in pretty far deep, although not too far, at least not yet. She may have known about your brother and father….what happened to them."

Thea suspected, but she couldn't prove for sure what happened. Regardless, the young woman's face contorted into one of the more uglier scowls a person could imagine.

"She knew, she knew," Thea said.

"Well, I'm not sure, but…this is something your father might have known about," Barbara said. She ran her hand through her hair. "No one has ever gone to this extreme in Gotham City, at least not yet….and trust me, I'm sure there are some people who would try to justify it."

Anxiety hit Thea hard. Barbara had been speaking around in circles, without any way of telling her what was going on. Thea wanted to know, but at the same time, the Queen Heiress found herself almost afraid of wanting to find out. Yet, being as bold as she was, Thea refused to back off on her line of questioning. Swallowing a lump in her throat, Thea pressed forward.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Direct, I like it," Barbara said. "To answer your question though….Merlyn is intending to level the Glades….in an attempt to wipe out the more dangerous elements inside. It's about as overkill as using a bazooka to wipe out an ant infestation….and it's only going to cause more problems….especially amongst the survivors."

"If he intends to leave any survivors," Thea said.

"Well, the people in there might have family or friends outside….which could not be too fond of what Merlyn is doing," Barbara said. For the first time in a long time, words failed her. "Your mother….I'm not sure if she knows what she's in for….and I'm not sure how willing she is."

"Maybe we should ask her," Thea said.

Barbara slid her finger up to the bridge of the nose to pinch it. As straight forward as Thea's solution looked to be in principle, a couple of problems smacked Barbara full on in the face with all of the subtle force of a runaway train.

"Well, your mother could be put in danger if there's any chance she's not playing ball," Barbara said. She closed her eyes, and decided to say the second and really more dire possible. "Or she is willingly playing ball, and….she's gone too far."

"No….she can't…can she?" Thea asked.

Barbara noticed the obvious look on the face of a teenage girl who had come to the realization her perfect world wasn't too perfect at all. The first illusions started to come with cracks after the Queen's Gambit went down and those cracks started to widen. Barbara really wished she could comfort Thea, but a problem was she didn't know how far gone.

She had contacts who could find out.

"We need to put a stop to this," Thea said.

"No, and I know your heart is in the right place, but we can't really put a stop to this, not right now at least," Barbara said. Her expression brightened up with a smile. "But, there might be one person powerful enough in this city to try and put a stop to everything, and he could bring Merlyn to his knees."

Barbara hoped he would be willing to help. He looked to be a step above the rest of the usual rich douchebags and far easier on the eyes than many of them as well.

* * *

Artemis found herself underneath the tender care of one Harry Potter. His able hands brushed against her body, causing a shiver to pass over her spine. Despite the fact she received some up close and personal attention from Harry, many questions entered Artemis's mind. She couldn't even begin to properly answer the lot of them, if she had been perfectly honest with herself.

"I don't get it," Artemis said. "He killed himself before I had a chance to take him out….why?"

Harry took a long moment to consider what might have been going through the mind of the Sportsmaster. In a roundabout way, his mind came to a conclusion. Leaning down, Harry smiled at her.

"You had him right where you wanted him, and he would have rather gone to the grave having died by his own hand, then his daughter having killing him," Harry said.

Artemis's shoulders slumped. Harry moved around to check to see if anything was broken, but thankfully for Artemis, it wasn't.

"I had him dead to rights at least once or twice, if not several times," Artemis said. Harry's magical fingers healed a couple of the bumps and bruises, which caused her to shiver. "Why did I hesistate? I've killed people before."

"Much harder to put an arrow to someone you know, than some random idiot," Harry said. "Despite all of what your father did, you couldn't bring yourself to do it, could you?"

"I guess not," Artemis said. "Well, at least he's dead…even though it doesn't really satisfy me the way he died."

Harry smiled and looked her over.

"You're all good," Harry said.

"No," Artemis said. She smiled and rose to her feet. She placed a hand on his stomach, just below the band of his pants. "I think I'm running a fever, and I think it's all your fault…maybe we should do something about it…hmmm."

Artemis swept in to steal a passionate kiss from Harry. Her tongue pushed into Harry's mouth, with Harry returning fire with a kiss of her own.

"Well, if you're running a fever," Harry said, the moment he broke, and he kissed the side of Artemis's neck. The healing spells he used acted as a mild aphrodisiac. "Maybe we should get you out of those clothes, and sweat it out."

Artemis only responded by shoving her tongue down Harry's throat. Harry returned fire, and ran his hands over her, cupping her backside.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter Thirty-Five: The Hunt.**

* * *

 ****Malcolm Merlyn made his way into a highly secure garage, pacing back and forth like a bat out of hell. The businessman didn't like all of these problems getting into the way of his plans. The problems forced him to start stepping up his time table, which also made him a bit sloppier then he intended to be. The man leaned back, a frown crossing his face.

Cain didn't show up late and while he sent his mercenaries, along with Sportsmaster, against the vigilante, Merlyn didn't really have full confidence the man could seal the deal as he should. Merlyn should in many ways have full confidence, after the role Cain played in the destruction of the Gambit. The young Queen heir being on the ship proved to be an annoyance, as Merlyn only intended to take care of Robert Queen, and it was much harder to get a woman to comply when you killed her son, as opposed to her son and her husband. Merlyn almost hoped Oliver showed back up as the vigilante.

Evidence to the contrary appeared and Oliver Queen had not returned to start putting arrows in people in the name of justice and vengeance. Malcolm frowned, and tried to figure out who was under the mask. Sportsmaster acted rather coy about the entire ordeal, only saying he would look into it. What Sportsmaster looking into something amounted to, Merlyn could only begin to guess.

Footsteps approached and put Merlyn on edge. The man always sensed danger looking around the corner, ever since many of his fellow conspirators had been found with arrows in them. Merlyn prided himself on everlasting vigilance, but it never hurt to be too careful.

"You're late."

"There was a situation," Cain said. He approached Merlyn in an unapologetic manner, feet shuffling from one side to the other. He pulled out a portable computer and put an image on the scene. "This message was given to me."

Merlyn took the computer and saw one of Cain's mercenaries, with the word "redemption" crudely carved in his chest. The businessman raised an eyebrow.

"The rest of them are dead, "Cain said. "The League has established their presence in Starling."

Merlyn reacted calmly, a lot of rumors indicated the League established the presence. This confirmed they were as dangerous as ever.

"If you have to deal with family matters, I'll release you," Merlyn said.

"This isn't Shiva's style," Cain said. "Whoever did this….he or she wanted to get my attention and get in my head. Shiva would just lurk from the shadows."

Cain looked over his shoulder. Merlyn understood the score, despite the man's bravado, his ex-wife still lurked around every corner which caused his nerves to become rather fried.

"We need to move the plan forward," Merlyn said. "While we still have the upper hand on the League."

"Another arrow in the chest, every night, sometimes twice, sometimes three times," Cain said. "And Edge is making difficulties, he fancies himself as a kingpin."

"And he still won't tell us where Intergang got their weapons," Merlyn said. The man ran his fingers through his dark hair. "If Edge starts to become a problem, it's one we're going to have to eliminate with extreme prejudice. But the man does have his uses, at least for the moment."

How useful Edge will remain, Merlyn could only begin to guess. The man had his ideas regarding certain opportunities having presented themselves.

"And what of his bodyguard?" Cain asked.

"More than a mere bodyguard, given he stood up to the archer, and managed to get the better of her," Merlyn said.

"We've been able to verify it's a her?" Cain asked.

"The few eyewitness accounts we've been able to put this together have pinpointed a female archer," Merlyn said. "But it doesn't matter, once we move forward to the next phase of our plan, we will get the archer out of the way."

Too soon, Merlyn thought, well their hand had been pushed forward in a rather frustrating way. Too many people asked questions, too many people lingered too close to their operation. Harry Potter gained more steam everywhere, putting himself as a white knight hero, and while Merlyn didn't doubt some darker intentions in mind, he did make a rather convincing argument.

"The Sportsmaster has been killed tonight," Cain said.

"Then we misjudged his competence," Merlyn said darkly. "The archer is more skilled then we thought….."

"Or the Dragon's presence was real and the vigilante is a knight of the dragon," Cain said.

Strange, given how knights normally slayed dragons. Regardless, Merlyn would go for it, and they would step forward through the next phase of their plan. A plan which they intended to keep forward to.

"We might need to enlist the help of our mutual friend," Cain said.

Merlyn's face turned into a malicious grin, he came to the same conclusion as well. Time to kick up the plan into the next phase.

* * *

Thea Queen couldn't believe she intended to do this, especially given she had been so good at keeping out of trouble. Or at least not getting caught, but she intended to get caught this time. The Queen heiress walked down to the side entrance of a convenience store.

Barbara suggested Harry Potter would be the one to stop this mad plan. Thea thought about confronting her mother, but common sense kicked in for the most part and Thea thought it wouldn't be the best idea for this confrontation to occur.

The idea struck her with all of the subtle force of a punch to the face. The vigilante looked to be the one person who might be able to put a stop to Merlyn's plot. Thea read the news a little bit and she figured out a pattern in the vigilante's attacks. They were rich douchebags, who had some kind of morally dubious actions in the past. Were they connected to Merlyn? She didn't do the research.

 _'This is insane,'_ Thea thought, the logical portion of her mind kicking in, before the rest of her mind shut it up and gave it a good firm kick. The young woman frowned and tried to activate the lock, but said lock wouldn't really budge.

Knowing her luck, Thea would attract attention, but it wouldn't be the vigilante, it would be the cops. The woman kicked the door for a moment to try and get it open.

"Ah, what do we have here, an amateur?"

A group of hoods made their way over towards Thea. The usual tattooed, scar faced lot, dressed in clothes about two sizes too big for them. Thea found herself visited by the strangest and worst sense of Deja-Vu imaginable. The gang bangers surrounded her, one of them having a thick pipe in his hand which he looked like he intended to whack Thea with if she made one wrong move.

"And stealing from our turf," another one of them said.

"Just…just….I locked my backpack in here," Thea said. "Honestly, I swear."

"You need to work on your lies better and…"

The man dropped to the ground with an arrow being impacted into his shoulder. Two of the goons turned away from Thea and a figure in green repelled down from the rooftop, drilling her adversaries with a kick to the side of the face.

One of them grabbed a crowbar, and tried to nail the vigilante, but Thea grabbed it from behind and turned him around.

"Wrong move, bitch!" the goon yelled.

An arrow between his shoulder blades caused the asshole to drop down onto his face, planting it onto the asphalt. Face first the goon fell to the ground, knocking the wind out of him with one swift shot.

The fourth goon threw his hands up in surrender, but tripped and fell head long into a stack of garbage cans. The cans knocked over with a clatter, and the goon laid on the ground, a bloody gash opened up on the side of his head.

The vigilante responded by shaking her head.

"Embarrassing," Artemis murmured underneath her breath. She turned her attention towards the woman in the alleyway. Thea slumped against the wall, an embarrassed smile crossing her face. "What were you playing at?"

"I actually….well I intended to….I really need to talk to you," Thea said. Artemis stared at her for a long moment. "And you know, there really isn't an Arrow signal I can use, so….it's really hard to get in touch with you, when you're needed. But, there's a plot to kill a lot of people….a really bad guy….."

"Yes, I'm aware of this," Artemis said.

"Malcolm, Malcolm Merlyn, he's….he's not the shining night he portrays himself as," Thea said breathlessly, hoping to get the archer's attention. "I found some information on my mother's computer…she's in pretty deep….I'm not sure how willing she is, but…..she's in pretty deep."

"How do you know she's not a willing part of this?"

The question bored through the Queen Heiress's head like a hammer. She thought about the same thing a couple of times and Thea really didn't know the answer. Did she even really want to know the answer? More thoughts entered her mind and made her really think, in ways she didn't want to think about.

"Can I count on your help?" Thea asked.

"Yes."

One word held so much weight and Thea didn't really want to push her luck too hard to be honest. Regardless, one gaze into the face(or rather the hood) of the archer told her all she needed to know.

"But, if I agree to help you, you're going to have to do exactly as I say. Because you've been getting in trouble way too much for my liking."

Thea smiled despite herself, her getting in trouble could be a pretty big problem. Regardless, she wondered what her hero had in store for her.

* * *

The long last couple of nights passed and Harry prepared for another long night. With any luck, they would finally track down Cain and then Merlyn.

"So, there hasn't been any side effects?" Harry asked.

"None, but….I'm sure if I start feeling funny, I can fly over there faster than a speeding bullet and you can correct the problem," Kara said. A shadow of a grin crossed over her face. "So, what's been going on with you?"

"Oh, nothing much," Harry said. "We've just been upgrading the computer system here at the company….Felicity jumped into the project with reckless abandon and Indy is helping her."

"When do you think she's going to jump you?" Kara asked. Harry responded with a smile and a playful nod, which caused Kara to respond with a prominent grin. "Let's face it, any red blooded woman wants a piece of you. There's no need to deny it, or play coy about it."

"Trust me, Kara, never was denying it," Harry said. "But, take care of yourself, why don't you….I wouldn't want to read about you causing any more trouble. And send Alex my regards, when you see her….she's been working hard."

"Well, maybe it's time for to pay her a surprise visit at the office and work her hard," Kara said. "I'm sure she'd appreciate it….but maybe I'll see you sooner than you think."

A smile crossed Kara's face for a moment. Harry rose to his feet and made his way past the gym. Dinah returned home within the past couple of days, but she still showed up here, and worked out, continuing the training she started with Lady Shiva.

"She is a piece of coal which we can mold into a diamond," Nyssa said. Harry turned around and Nyssa wrapped her arms around Harry's neck, before pulling him into a kiss. The two parted ways after a second.

"Nyssa, how was your trip to Gotham City?" Harry asked.

"The place is…what it is," Nyssa said. She really had no other way to describe somewhere like Gotham City. "My sister continues her scouting mission. She's intrigued to meet you, but sadly, it might not line up in the distant future."

"Well, I think some things are worth the wait," Harry said.

"So, is tonight the night?" Nyssa asked.

"I remain optimistic," Harry said. The warrior looked intense and ready to pounce for a variety of reasons. The young man reached towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Every night could be the night."

"Be careful not to overextend yourself, beloved," Nyssa said. "He can be rather slick, when you think you have him."

Harry smiled, he was well aware of it. Merlyn wiggled out of some tight holes, but each bit of his empire Harry chipped away, he grew closer to accomplishing something extremely grand. He hoped to succeed with his goals sooner rather than later.

"Best of luck," Nyssa said. "I'll keep you posted if everything goes by correctly."

"I'm sure you would," Harry said. He leaned closer towards Nyssa with a smile on his face. A brief kiss pressed against her lips. "And I will keep you posted….hopefully you can stick around on a more regular basis."

"Well, you know….."

"Yes, I know," Harry said, pausing for a long moment. "No matter what, do the job, no matter how long it takes."

Nyssa slipped into the shadows, the credo of the League happened to be getting the job done, no matter how long it took. Nyssa walked off into the shadows, after a long moment passed for Harry.

Felicity made her way around the corner, almost running into Harry. The coffee she held almost flew up into the air. Harry reached over, and caught the coffee cup in his hand without any pause. The green-eyed sorcerer caught the cup in his hand, holding it in his hand.

"Wow, you're really this good," Felicity said.

"Yes, I am," Harry said. He put the coffee cup down on the table and escorted Felicity over. Felicity sat down on the chair across from Harry, gazing in his eyes. "So, you pulled an all nighter."

"Yes, and it's not the first all-nighter I've done either," Felicity said. A long pause followed, and Harry leaned down, consulting her notes. "You know, with a project….not with anything else."

"Oh, I'm well aware what you meant, Felicity," Harry said. "Our computer systems are upgraded aren't they?"

"Oh to the point of absurdity, yes," Felicity said. She beamed with a long smile directed at Harry. She brushed a strand of hair out from in front of her eyes. "We had some pretty good security, but Indy helped give some teeth. I don't know where you even find an AI like that, but she's amazing."

"One of a kind," Harry said to her. "Just like you….and take the rest of the day off, you've worked well."

"Thank you, you're amazing," Felicity said. She realized she might have fangirled out a little too much when she looked at Harry. "Well, I'm just pretty much completely beat, but at least I won't have to worry about anyone breaking into the system and stealing sensitive company secrets….I almost hope someone tries, because the fallout will be amazing."

"Here's your coffee," Harry said. "Careful, it's hot."

"Yes, I noticed," Felicity said. "But, you saved a cup of coffee from a horrific fate, good for you."

"Yes, as you said, I'm amazing," Harry said. "Have a good evening…guess it would be morning by now."

"When you keep the kind of hours we do, I don't think I've been able to keep track," Felicity said. "But, don't worry, I can go all night…work all night….you know what I meant."

"Indeed," Harry said.

"I really need to get some sleep," Felicity said. "Mind's more frazzled than ever before."

"Didn't really notice," Harry said. "Take it easy, Felicity, drive safely….don't drink too much coffee."

"Is there such a thing as too much coffee?" Felicity asked, a cheeky grin appearing on her face. Harry leaned towards her with a smile.

"Well, I don't think there is, but there are some people who would disagree," Harry said and the two of them parted ways.

The moment Felicity disappeared into the elevator, Harry took the phone out.

"So, you have her?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I do," Artemis said. "You wouldn't believe the lengths she went to try and get my attention. If only she knew we were watching her the entire time."

"Yes," Harry said. He almost laughed, but kept a straight face in the process. "If only she knew she was being watched."

* * *

After a good workout, Dinah decided to meet Barbara. The two of them agreed to meet up, with Barbara hinting at there was a fair bit going on right now. Dinah felt herself growing strong and more durable with each moment of training.

"So, how's your week been?" Barbara asked. Dinah answered with a raised eyebrow and Barbara stepped back, holding her hands up in the universal sign of surrendering. "What, too soon?"

"Yes, just a little bit," Dinah said. She decided to sit down next to Barbara. "And yes, my week has been….well it's been complicated."

"Dinah, you don't know about complications," Barbara said. "My mentor seems to expect a lot out of me."

"Your mentor does?" Dinah asked. "I think we should trade, and we'll see who really has a demanding mentor."

The two girls paused to order drinks. Barbara's eyes flickered over to the pendant on Dinah's neck, and Dinah knew the woman tried not to say anything. Through the magic of text messages, Dinah gave Barbara a general idea what happened, but she didn't tell anything.

"The grass is honestly greener on the other side," Barbara said, taking a drink. "Especially when the grass is anywhere outside of Gotham City."

Dinah paused and almost applauded Barbara's restraint. Had the scenario been reversed, Dinah wouldn't have let it go without a comment.

"So, what's the deal?" Barbara asked.

"I've been through some changes," Dinah said. Their eyes met each other for a long moment. "They were difficult….."

"Does this have anything to do with the attack?" Barbara asked. Dinah

"Yes," Dinah said. She reached forward and clutched Barbara around the hand. "It has everything to do with the attack, and some revelations….I've figured out."

Barbara looked Dinah straight in the eye, trying to figure out where her best friend's head happened to be out. She looked towards her.

"I'm becoming who I wanted to be," Dinah said. "One day, I can tell you everything….."

"Hey, don't apologize," Barbara said. She held her hand up. "I know what you're going for, I have some secrets I need to keep secret."

Dinah figured Barbara had some secrets as well. She didn't want to say she could read Barbara like a book, but Dinah knew a lot about where she was coming through.

"One day, once I figure this all out, I'll….I'll tell you everything," Dinah said. She ran her hand absent-mindedly down the pendant. "It's opened my eyes."

"It's always a good shock which opens someone's eyes, isn't it?" Barbara asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Dinah said. She reached over and finished drinking her drink. "But….thank you for being here for me, even though I can't really tell you everything."

"Same," Barbara said. She smiled. "And one day, you'll be able to tell me everything."

"Same," Dinah said with a smile.

"So, this is the point where we kiss, right?" Barbara asked, in a half joking voice.

Laurel laughed despite herself. Despite the last few days she had, and the revelations she experienced, she could count on Barbara to really lighten the load in her mind.

The woman could have sworn she saw Cassandra lingering in the shadows, but she slipped into the darkness. A smile crossed across her face. She had her space, with Harry still looking out for her best interests.

Her instincts became sharper, and more heightened. The man over in the corner looked like a sleazy pick-pocket type which made Dinah think she should keep an eye out on him.

* * *

The Arrow lead a blindfolded Thea down a hallway.

"This isn't some kind of ritual sacrifice thing, is it?" Thea asked. "Because, I might be open minded, but I'm not going to be in for it."

"You wanted answers," the archer said. "I'm going to bring you to the one man on Earth who could give you the answers you seek. But be careful, you might not like the answers you receive."

Thea snorted, she would be the judge to be honest.

"Do you think you can remove the blindfold?" Thea asked.

"Do it."

A second voice, one with a slight hint of a British accent, even if it had been trained away, could be heard. The blindfold dropped off and Thea came face to face with a figure in dark.

"You're him?" Thea asked. "The mysterious dragon who has been showing up, fighting alongside the vigilante."

"Call me Nightwing," the man said.

"Nightwing," Thea said with a smile. "It suits you….I think."

"Well, good to know you think," he said, with a smile which caused Thea's heart to almost melt. The brunette found a man with power.

"If your mother is found to be coerced by Merlyn, rest assure, she will have the protection from the League," he said. "We don't know the entire story here."

"We don't, do we?" Thea asked. Her voice quivered when she looked at him. "What if….what if…she actually willingly conspired to kill my brother and my father."

"Oliver Queen is alive," Nightwing said.

"How?" Thea asked.

"I've seen him."

Thea's eyebrow wrinkled and thought about what she wanted to say for a long moment.

"My associate speaks highly of you, she says you have potential," Nightwing said. Thea raised an eyebrow in response. "I will protect your mother, and answer all of your questions…..providing you give me one thing."

"You want me to sleep with you?" Thea asked.

"You'll be begging for that eventually," the vigilante said.

Thea's mouth hung agape for a long moment but she shook her head. She wouldn't argue too hard, just something about him overwhelmed her personally.

"I run an organization called the League of Assassins, and we're always recruiting some of the most skill women on the planet," he said.

"Just women?" Thea asked.

"Yes," he said without missing a beat. "If I agree to your terms, I will need your loyalty."

"What do I need to do?" Thea asked.

"Place your hand on mine," Nightwing said. Thea obeyed his request. "And say, I, Thea Queen, pledge loyalty to the Dragon."

Thea noticed the wording, shrewd as it was. He must have been rather trusting to take her at her word.

"I, Thea Queen, pledge loyalty to the Dragon."

A bolt of energy spread through Thea's fingers and a tingling feeling spread through her mind. She felt a lot more energetic and if anything else, a bit more mature.

"So, now what?"

The vigilante pulled down her hood, to reveal Artemis Crock, which caused Thea to almost scream. She should have known, but something mentally blocked her. Thea kicked herself more of the stupidity of not figuring the obvious more than anything.

The identity of Nightwing looked more obvious. The mask pulled off to reveal the handsome face of Harry Potter.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter Thirty-Six: Revelations.**

* * *

Thea Queen's questions swam through her minds, and a long thought crossed over her mind, when she looked at Artemis and Harry. She took a chair which had been offered, and Thea placed herself down on the chair, hands folded in her lap. A long pause followed and she closed her eyes.

"What do you mean you know my brother survived?" Thea asked.

"I've seen him, ran into him….he's currently being watched by people who will ensure he will remain out of trouble," Harry said. Thea responded with a slight knowing smile because of the implication Oliver would stay out of trouble. "The person in question is rather capable….and when it's time for Oliver to come home, he'll be ready."

"So, you're having him held captive until this entire mess with the conspiracy is taken care of?" Thea asked.

Harry smiled and decided to answer the young heiress's question with another question of his own. He leaned towards Thea with a smile crossing his face.

"How much have you found out about this entire mess?" Harry asked.

"I know Malcolm Merlyn is in the center of this, if you're wondering, and he wants to wipe out the Glades, I don't know why," Thea said.

"His wife was killed there….he grew cold and distant since then, and….decided to join the League of Assassins," Harry said.

"But, if he's a member of the League….can't you make him back off?" Thea asked.

Harry considered her question, a good question to be honest. He figured the most straightforward answer possible would be good enough for him.

"Merlyn left the League sometime before I assumed leadership," Harry said. The sorcerer assassin's face turned into a smile, the type of smile which would cause someone's heart to shiver with the insanity. "He feared the former leader of the League, therefore since I destroyed him, his bravado will be very less."

"And it just isn't as simple is tracking him down and putting an arrow through is head, is it?" Thea asked. The looks from both of the vigilantes caused her to really get the message straight away. Another shiver passed through her spinal cord. "Right…..it answers my question, nothing is quite simple, isn't it?"

"Never too simple, unfortunately," Artemis said. "Soon though, his security network will be chipped away, and we'll be able to take him out."

Thea understood there would be only one way to take someone like Merlyn out permanently. She had a few misgivings regarding what they could do, but really not as many as they would think. They were a part of the group called League of Assassins.

"We only kill those who have found a way to harm the righteous," Harry said. He touched his hand onto the hand of the young heiress. The young man's hand touched hers. "It's a slippery slope, and everyone is a hero in their own story."

"Have you ever seen yourself as a hero?" Thea asked.

"I'm not sure if there are any heroes in the world," Harry said for a long moment. "At least in this world, it has no place for heroes."

"Pretty cynical, don't you think?" Thea asked. Harry raised an eyebrow in response. Thea slid back, the burning gaze Harry placed into her face causing a shiver to spread over her spine. "I'm just saying…it sounds pretty cynical….but you must have seen things which would give you such an attitude, didn't you?"

"Good girl," Harry said. The young man leaned closer towards Thea and her mind went into an interesting place when Harry's gaze worked into hers. "When you've lived, and died, like I have, it tends to do a lot to strain your optimism towards people."

Thea noticed the casual nature of his statement about living and dying, and did wonder a lot of things. Dare she ask the question.

"There have been things of mystical legend, but the truth is more fantastic than pretty much anything else," Harry said. The powerful wizard stared into Thea's eyes, and she stepped back. "Let's just say, I've flirted with death, chased death, and bedded death."

The implications of Harry's statement caught Thea for a moment.

"We can find out how much your mother has to do with this entire mess," Harry said. "And in exchange, I will give you the training you need. You can never go back when you start."

"I don't want to be weak," Thea said. She stood up rather firm. "All of those times I got in trouble, I wished I was able to defend myself. Rather than wait around for some savior to rescue me…no offense, really."

Artemis flashed her a smile, which showed Thea none was taken. A momentary pause followed and Thea broke in with the obvious smile.

"So, when do we start?" Thea asked.

* * *

Dinah stretched out, wearing a pair of yoga pants and a tight black top. Sara stood across from her, wearing the same.

"So, you didn't tell Barbara about me?" Sara asked. "I thought the two of you were close with each other, you shared everything with her, more than me."

"Do you have a problem with Barbara?" Dinah asked.

"Not at all," Sara said. "But, I'm surprised you haven't told her….she's bound to find out…she's way too smart for her own good."

Dinah smiled despite her slight agitation. She had a feeling of blood lust inside her, nothing to do with Sara, but the more she thought about what happened, the more Dinah Laurel Lance wanted blood. A primal sensation spread over her body.

"Way too smart for her own good?" Dinah asked. "It pretty much describes Babs to a tee, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does," Sara said. Her lips curled into a knowing smile. "Why don't you attack me….show me what you have?"

Dinah's blood boiled and the passion for the fight caused her to rush forward. The adversary rushed towards Sara, and aimed a roundhouse kick to the side of her sister's head. Sara blocked the kick and fired back with a rapid fire succession of punches.

Flipping onto her feet, Dinah rushed, and grabbed Sara's legs, before pushing them out from underneath her. The younger Lance sister flipped down and landed on her feet. She rushed towards Dinah, but Dinah evaded her attacks, before going for a kick, at least until the point where Sara brought her down on the ground.

"It's an interesting contrast to how thing went when we were children," Sara said. She tried not to look too conceited.

"But, most of the time, I just ended up pulling your hair. I don't think it will work."

"Well, sometimes the unexpected will happen," Sara said. She looked down with a teasing twinkle in her eye. "If you're done getting knocked on your ass, Laurel."

The older Lance sister sprung up to her feet, determination flowing through her eyes. She would love nothing more than to be able to dominate her sister and bring her down to the ground. Rushing forward, Dinah tried for a roundhouse kick, but Sara evaded it.

"Again, try again."

Dinah cracked Sara with a glancing blow and knocked her down to the ground. She grabbed Sara and pinned her down onto the ground, straddling the top of her younger sister.

"Well, let's face it," Sara said. She smiled despite herself. "You might on top, but you shouldn't mistake being on top for having control."

Sara wrapped her legs around Laurel's waist and rolled her over onto the ground. The younger Lance sister bent down, pinning her sister's hands behind the back of her head. Laurel looked up and responded with a headbutt which caused her sister to stagger.

"Sara, I didn't…."

"No, it's fine," Sara said. She rubbed the side of her face, feeling the warm blood on it. "You hit me really good….but I think we should take five."

Sara looked at the mirror and noticed the blood from her nose from when her older sister took her.

"We've only been reunited for about a week, and you almost defeaned me, and you busted my nose," Sara said. "So tell me, are you being passive aggressive for something, or not?"

"I'm really sorry," Dinah said.

"No, don't be," Sara said. "In fact, next time you hit me like it, I don't want you to let up the attack. I want you to keep it up. Or next time, I will take your head off."

Dinah opened her mouth for a second. Sara reached towards her and grabbed her sister's hand, with a smile on her face.

"Don't worry, you won't go too far," Sara said. A shadow of a smile crossed over the face of the younger Lance sister. "As if I'd let you."

Dinah allowed herself to snort, but a sound of someone clapping in the shadows caused the bonding moment the two sisters experienced to fade away. Instinctively, Dinah reached into the shadows and grabbed onto Lady Shiva's wrist, pulling her back out.

"You've learned," Shiva said. "But, if you learned enough, you would have attacked before I alerted you from my arrival. Next time, I wonder if a dagger would be sufficient to make you learn."

Dinah's eyes bored into Shiva's for a long second.

"And I trust you're alright after your ordeal," Shiva said. "I never wanted any pupil of mind to be dragged into my husband's war….especially considering my daughter took on the charge."

"Don't worry about Cassandra, she can take care of herself," Sara said. "Worry about yourself….and all of the problems you've caused."

Sara stood up. She wanted to rip into Lady Shiva for a long time. Nyssa warned her about rocking the boat.

"Child, I'll be lenient on you," Shiva said. "I respect your position as one of the chief lieutenants of the Dragon…but consider your words and remember to lay blame where it's needed."

"Any time, I'll test my skills against you," Sara said. "You think of me as some idiot little girl who tried to get back at her sister by going on a boat with her boyfriend."

"I never said as much, those thoughts came from your mind," Shiva said. She smiled. "But any time, will be another time….I think you don't have your head in the game as is."

One look at Sara's busted up nose caused Shiva to turn around.

"You've had your problems with her?" Dinah asked. "It better not be on my account."

"Don't flatter yourself, Laurel."

Sara turned around and moved over to clean up the injury she suffered. Shiva dug underneath her skin in the worst possible way.

* * *

Harry moved into his office, to take a phone call.

"Doctor Wells, what can I do for you?" Harry asked.

"I want to ask you straight up, Doctor Potter," Wells said. "Were you serious about purchasing controlling interest of STAR Labs or were you just pulling my leg?"

"I mean everything I say," Harry said. "I think your labs can be so much more….and the particular accelerator will be online much sooner. And it isn't like I'm going to leave you with nothing."

"How much of a piece are you going to intend to leave me?" Wells asked.

"A big enough piece," Harry said. "You'll have controlling interest in the lab still….and I know you want the lab as your legacy."

"It has…sentimental value to a huge piece of me," Wells said.

"Yes, I understand ,your wife's tragic accident," Harry said. "The next time I'm in Central City, we're going to talk business."

"I have to say, I eagerly anticipate the meeting," Wells said. "I think I understand the benefits….and thank you."

The phone call disconnected for the moment. Just in time for Harry to see Sara walk into the office. Her nose looked a bit banged from this morning.

"So, did you get whacked a bit hard last night?" Harry asked.

"No, this morning," Sara said. She sat down in front of him. Harry's magical hands started to heal her busted up nose, and restore it to good as new.

"Just remember to be more careful," Harry said. He looked into her eyes and a smile crossed over his face. "So, what happened?"

"Would you believe it was my sister who hit me in the face and broke my nose?" Sara asked. She tried not to look too sheepish about the fact.

She smiled at the fact Harry's only response resulted in a half-raised eyebrow. The young man shuffled through several sheets of paper, in an attempt to figure out what he wanted to do.

"I know, it's crazy right," Sara said. "I thought I'd see what she had, and she does have a great right hook…as the state of my nose showed."

"She's coming off of a high from the serum, and….well it causes some weird side effects," Harry said.

"So, she wanted to bust my nose for the entire Gambit mess, and….what happened?" Sara asked.

"Maybe," Harry said. He leaned towards Sara and cupped her cheek, allowing the beauty to stare into his eyes. "But, you know, she had a lot of tension with you to begin with….."

"Are you trying to say what I think you're saving?" Sara asked, with a long smile crossing her face. Harry peered into her eyes for a long moment and Sara smiled. "You are, aren't you?"

"I'll work with her," Harry said. "I noticed she's trying to hold back her more primal instincts….she needs an outlet for them."

Sara pretty much knew the outlet Dinah needed. Rose needed the same kind of outlet when she had been exposed to the serum.

"So, Thea has been brought into the fold," Harry said. "And she confirmed a couple of things which we pretty much suspected."

"Oh, good," Sara said. Harry smiled. "You wouldn't have done so if you didn't have a good reason. And you had Artemis scout her out for months and months for a good reason."

"Yes," Harry said. "For a good reason."

"Did you tell her about Oliver?" Sara asked. "One day, he will return."

"And one day, we will deal with his return," Harry said. "As long as he doesn't get in my way, neither of us will get a problem."

Sara understood where Harry came from. Oliver had been observed on the island, prepared for his return. In some ways, The Queen heir returning at this point would be suicidal, because if there had been any hint he knew anything, he would be died.

"So, I'll be heading to Central City next week, Wells might be close to biting," Harry said.

"Oh, good, really good," Sara said. "You really wanted this business deal to happen, didn't you?"

"Big time," Harry said to her. He brushed a strand of hair away from Sara's face and looked into her eyes for a long moment. "Big time."

* * *

Thea walked down to the gym area. Harry afforded a state of the art gym area which had an area for archery. The target looked to be more complex than ever before, but if anything else, Thea enjoyed a challenge. The Queen heiress bent down and picked up a bow and arrow set.

Another figure showed up, and she wore a black tank top and jean shorts. Her silvery platinum blonde hair shined in the light, and she looked on with blue eyes.

"You must be Thea Queen," she said. She reached forward with a smile. "Rose, Rose Wilson."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Thea said. She looked towards Rose.

"So, Harry recruited you," Rose said. "It's inevitable…he's a collector."

Thea raised an eyebrow, leaning towards Rose with a confused look.

"Everyone has their vices, and one of them is beautiful women," Rose said.

"I'd think I might be a little too young for him," Thea said.

"Well, I thought so too, but I made a convincing argument," Rose said. She leaned towards Thea for a moment. "And you're starting to blossom, so it's a good thing Harry wanted to snatch you up…."

"Most people would have a problem with dating someone who is a bit…underage," Thea said. Rose looked at her. "More than a bit."

"Different age of consent rules where Harry came from, honey," Rose said. She placed a hand on Thea's shoulder and smiled. "But, yes, you're a bit under the limit, but it doesn't mean, you can't dream, and anticipation makes the heart go fonder."

Thea thought about it, she tried to deny the fact she thought about what Harry could do, but he invaded her mind and stirred up her senses.

"Just think about it," Rose said. She lead Thea over to the floor for a moment.

Thea figured if Harry might have morality issues with sleeping with someone as young as she was, but did Rose? The predatory look flickering through her eyes prompted Thea to shiver.

"So, take the shot," Rose said. She placed her hands on Thea's shoulders.

Thea closed her eyes and recalled what Artemis told her. What Artemis told her? Everything started to click in the back of Thea's mind and she almost jumped into the air at the implication.

 _'Oh, you sneaky bitch, you were plotting this the entire time, preparing me, training me, I can't believe it.'_

"Relax, focus, and fire."

The same thing Artemis told her, which made Thea realize something happened to be up. Artemis had been assigned by Harry to keep an eye on her, Thea liked to believe they became friends despite all of the intrigue. Regardless, Thea relaxed and she fired, taking the shot.

She hit the target full on, not even coming close to missing the mark. Thea smiled and Rose leaned towards her, brushing her fingers through her hair.

"Good, but let's see if you can get something a bit more advanced."

Rose slowly steered Thea towards the newest target. The young woman blinked when the target presented itself for her.

Thea bit down on her mouth and aimed the arrow. She was going to rise to the occasion and hit the target with precision.

* * *

Dinah stretched after a long of training. The older Lance sister needed to really calm herself down, after this morning. She hit her sister a bit too hard in their little sparring session. Sara didn't really do anything wrong, rather Dinah thought long and hard of what she wanted to do herself.

At first, Dinah didn't know why Harry had so many bedrooms, but now it came to her. A knock on the door caused Dinah to look up.

"It's open," Dinah said. The door opened and Dinah's expression brightened up. "Harry, it's good to see you!"

"Just wanted to check up on you, to make everything is okay," Harry said. He watched in near amusement as Dinah came close to jumping him when he entered the room.

"Oh, everything is okay," Dinah said. She stood up straight and realized something. "Is everything okay with Sara? I didn't hurt her, did I?"

Harry answered with a small chuckle. He leaned towards Dinah, gripping her hand in his.

"She's fine, you were just a bit…intense in there," Harry said.

"You call it intense, I would call it careless," Dinah said.

Harry reached towards her and escorted her over to the bed, sitting her down.

"You had the right idea, you just had the wrong outlet," Harry said. "Once we smooth out all of the rough edges, you should be fine, more or less."

Dinah raised her eyebrow, and shivered underneath Harry's hands. The young man started to stroke the back of her neck. Sara hinted he had magic hands, and Dinah really didn't know how accurate it was until now.

"You know, you're making it very hard for me to keep control," Dinah said. Harry kept stroking the back of her neck. "You know, I'm about ready to lose all sense of my impulses."

"What if I want you to lose all sense of your impulses?" Harry asked.

Dinah wondered if he knew how much his actions pushed her buttons. A thought spread over the mind of the beautiful young woman, of course he knew how much he pushed all of her buttons. He pushed them with a greater skill than ever before.

"Just give in, it will be a lot healthier if you give in," Harry said. "For once, take what you want, and take it well."

"Oh, are you…." Dinah said. Harry cut off her statement with a nice kiss to the lips, which shut Dinah up in one fell swoop.

Dinah lost herself to the intense kiss by the powerful young man before her. His tongue brushed against her mouth, pushing deep inside. After allowing herself precious seconds before her brain to reboot, Dinah did the only thing she thought would be necessary. She wrapped her arms around Harry's waist and pulled him into her, returning the kiss with equal fever and passion.

She couldn't believe it happened.

"You better be ready to go all the way," Dinah said after pulling back from the kiss. "Because,

* * *

 ****"Mmm, I can't wait to taste your ass, it looks delicious."

Felicity peaked inside of the door the moment she heard those words. Who could blame her? She looked up and saw Harry in the midst of two women, who looked like sisters. One of them had their tongue in the other girl's ass and Felicity experienced a feeling of pleasure course through her body.

During her time on the Internet, doing research, Felicity saw some scandalizing things, but this took the cake. Very different seeing this in person.

Everything went silent, which made Felicity make her way quickly to the elevator.

To think she came to the office to pick up something she forgot, and she got more than she intended. A fantasy entered her head about her boss taking her on the desk for a performance review.

 _'Why is it all my fantasies are like a really clichéd porno?'_

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter Thirty-Seven: Wonder.**

* * *

For Morgan Edge, the saying time was money resounded with him. The man dug his knuckles against some of the most hard nose-businessmen in the world. Businessmen who dropped more and more with each passing week. Edge received the report, another shipment lost, thanks to the vigilante. One would think putting a bounty on the head of the vigilante would bring some people willing to make a few dollars out of the woodwork. The attacks on the vigilante didn't go as planned.

Edge became more distressed than a cat trapped underneath a rocking chair. The door in his office cracked open. His bodyguard showed up. The broad shouldered man managed to send the vigilante packing once before.

"You look stressed, sir."

"It's been a long night," Edge said. The man reached into a cabinet and pulled out a bottle. He looked to ensure the cork had not been tampered with. Six assassination attempts on his life over the past ten years caused Edge to be rather careful. "It's been a long week…did Mr. Ares get everything he wanted?"

"Yes, he thinks it was adequate," Edge's bodyguard said.

Ares and his associates prepared to arm the downtrodden youth of the Glades to go for war. Edge thought about it. Some people detested war, but war allowed him to make a steady profit when he could pick up the pieces. Edge tipped the contents of the wine bottle inside his glass, a shadow of a smile crossing over his face when he looked at Edge.

"If he thinks it was adequate, than I'm glad for him," Edge said.

"I'm curious how Merlyn intends to move the components into the city, without anyone finding out."

Edge thought about it and frowned. He didn't really concern himself with the finer details of what Merlyn intended to do. The man tapped on the side of the wine glass, making a clinging sound. He took another long drink from the wine.

"No one has collected on the vigilante yet," Edge said. "I want him brought before me."

"I believe the vigilante is a female," the man said. Edge raised an eyebrow in response. "Whoever she is, I'm certain someone is bound to collect on the bounty sooner rather than later. Money does make the world go around after all."

"Yes," Edge said. He took a long drink. "Yes, it does."

The bodyguard, the man called Vandal Savage, hated to be saddled with the babysitting duties with Morgan Edge. His partner, Ares, told him to keep a close look on Edge. The businessman ended up being a collector of some artifacts, one of those artifacts happened to be a very powerful device which could tip the balance of power.

Savage could storm Edge's manor and lift the device, but it would cause too much bloodshed. The immortal caveman normally didn't mind staining his hands with red, but the man knew the circumstances changed to be honest. The Dragon continued to make his movement and if the artifact fell into his hands, he would be invincible.

The Dragon being invincible would not be something where either Savage or his partners wanted to have. The man looked to be extremely dangerous without the added aura of invincibility added to him.

"Problem?" Savage asked. A beeping came from Edge.

"A business meeting….he wants to meet this late?" Edge asked. He moved away to check the message. "Is this vital?"

"Very vital….we lost an entire shipment."

"Another one?" Edge asked. The man's blood pressure staggered into a slightly dangerous level, but he took a rather calm tone to his voice. "I'll meet you in five minutes."

Edge dropped the cell phone, allowing it to drop onto the desk. He reached into his desk and pulled out a vial of pills. He popped it open and took it, before washing it down with a drink of wine. The vigilante caused his heart problems to flare off.

"I'll see you out, sir."

Edge appreciated the ability for his bodyguard to see him out of the door. All of the windows in the building had been replaced with shatter proof glass, given the vigilante's tendency to break through windows. He drove in a limo which was bullet proof, with bullet proof glass as well.

Yet, every shadow which moved caused Edge to be on the edge.

Vandal Savage smiled, they needed to keep Edge alive for a little bit longer, before they moved forward with the next phase of their plan.

* * *

Felicity didn't see her boss over the next couple of days. After she encountered him, in a very private moment, Felicity didn't know what to say to be honest. She was glad Harry had been all over the town.

She made her way out of the elevator, and almost bumped into Harry.

"Hey, Felicity," Harry said, wrapping his arms around her to prevent her from falling over.

"Oh, Harry, um, good morning," Felicity said. She stepped back, and shook her head. "Sorry, I jumped you…sorry I ran into you….it's been a long night, but I'm sure you know all about long nights."

"Well, I've had a few, yes," Harry said. "You look flushed….are you sure you don't need to take some time off? If you're not feeling well, there's a bed in the penthouse where I can set you down."

"Oh, as much as I'd like to you to take me to bed, I'm afraid….is it just getting hot here, or is it just me?" Felicity asked.

"It's you," Harry said.

"Really, you think I'm hot?" Felicity asked. "I mean, sweating….like I've been working hard….maybe I need a shower."

"Maybe you should, maybe a nice cold shower will be good," Harry said. "Do you need any help?"

"In the shower," Felicity said. "Um….."

She realized she undressed him with her eyes more and more. A lump manifested in Felicity's throat, but she shook her head to calm herself down.

"I just need to sit down, and check a couple of things," Felicity said.

Harry walked her over to the desk and sat her down behind the chair.

 _'You know, just shut up….so you don't say anything….normally the sexual harassment thing happens the other way around….is it really sexual harassment though if the person is willing?'_

Felicity shook her head in response and tried to return herself to a sense of coherency.

The door opened which caused Felicity to almost jump up. A young woman with dark hair, wearing sunglasses made her way into the office.

Harry turned his attention towards Sara, who entered the office incognito, and approached him with a smile.

"I have what you wanted," she said, slipping him a file.

Felicity turned towards her and curiosity rather spread over her.

"Don't worry, it's nothing too crucial towards your job, Miss….." the young woman said with a smile.

"Smoak, Felicity Smoak," she said.

Did she dare ask? Did Felicity dare really want to know? Curiosity did something to the cat, and she blinked for a long second. The IT woman looked from the file.

"Sara," the girl said in response to the unasked question. "I'm one of Harry's bodyguards."

"No offense, but….you don't look like you can do as much damage to anyone who can attack Harry," Felicity said.

Sara made her way around Felicity and placed a pair of hands on her shoulders, with a smile.

"Don't worry, appearances can be deceiving," Sara said. She leaned towards Felicity with a smile on her face. "I can be rather skilled with my hands….would you like a demonstration?"

Felicity's mind went straight into the gutter where her mind honestly felt a home with. She caught a glimpse at the young woman. Something about her demeanor seemed rather familiar, like Felicity ran into her before.

"Um, I'll take your word for it," Felicity said. She rose up. "I just remembered…..I need to check on my team…you know how they get when left on their own devices."

"Of course," Harry said. "Let me know if you need some time off….you have been working hard on the project, with Indy."

Felicity nodded and made her way to the elevator, almost tripping over her feet. A long moment passed before she passed the elevator.

Sara broke out into a smile on her face, and adjusted the sunglasses. The rather realistic dark hair wig on her face, made down in the R and D department, allowed her to look walk around without anyone seeing a dead woman around.

"So, she's cute," Sara said. "Can we keep her?"

"Well, it's inevitable, isn't it," Harry said.

Sara only responded with a grin. She leaned forward and captured her husband's lips with a small kiss, before moving back.

"You know, if it wasn't inevitable, I would really think you're losing your touch," Sara said. She held her thumb and forefinger together. "Just a little bit….so…what's in the file?"

"You didn't look?" Harry asked.

"Well, I'd figure you'd tell me, so there's no need to look," Sara said.

"Information on Merlyn and Edge's newest contact, a Mr. Ares," Harry said. Sara almost opened her mouth for a second, but Harry crossed over towards her. "Yes, Ares, as in the God of War."

"A hell of a coincidence," Sara said, a smile crossing her face. She knew very well Harry didn't believe in coincidences. "Yeah, I know."

Harry's phone rang and the green-eyed sorcerer answered the phone.

"Hello?" Harry asked. "Yes…oh really, you're in town…now? How long….yes I'll be there and pick you up, I'm sure we have a lot to discuss when you get there."

Sara smiled, talk about not believing in coincidences.

"You expected someone to call, didn't you?" Sara asked. One single smile on Harry's face told her pretty much everything she needed to know. "Of course you did, why wouldn't you? Do you want me to tag along?"

"Given you're my fearsome bodyguard, I would be insulted if you didn't tag along," Harry said. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in tight. "Plus, we have to maintain appearances."

Sara answered with a smirk. She knew, as well as Harry did, her role with Harry, especially with Nyssa away, was to protect the idiots from Harry, and not the only way around. If he tore into them, there would be trouble. If Sara beat them up, they might get off easily.

Maybe, depending if she was in a good mood, but if they pissed Sara off, they really took their chances.

* * *

Sara and Harry arrived at the airport in the limo. The two of them exited the limo, with Sara walking next to him.

"So, are you going to tell me who you're meeting?" Sara asked. Harry grinned at her. "I guess you're not going to tell me, because it will spoil the surprise, won't it?"

"Trust me, it will be more than worth the wait," Harry said.

Sara folded her arms and any number of thoughts swarmed the mind of the fearsome warrior. If Harry said it was worth the wait, it happened to be worth the wait. She didn't doubt him for a long moment. Her attention turned towards a jet which landed on the ground. Sara's mouth hung open in shock an eye.

"No way, no way!"

"Yes way," Harry said. Sara turned to him for a half of a second, but her eyes returned to the woman approaching from the plan. "Remember to compose herself."

Sara couldn't really compose herself, because before the Gambit, before her life changed, she had a bit of a girl crush on the woman Now, Sara watched the woman make her way down the steps of the plane. Her midnight dark hair framed her face with a pair of blue eyes behind a set of sunglasses. She dressed in an elegant female business suit. Her skirt went down a modest amount, but still showed her legs, which Sara's eyes glued on. Harry's hand on her shoulder brought Sara's thoughts back to reality.

 _'Easy Sara, don't pull a Felicity.'_

Sara almost mentally laughed at the implication. A member of the League of Assassins, fangirling to such a degree would not be becoming.

"Diana, welcome," Harry said. "It's nice to see you again."

"It's been too long, Harry," Diana said. The Amazon Princess made her way towards Harry and gave him a long kiss in response.

Sara watched the entire display, feeling a bit jealous, well of both of them really. Diana looked really eager to see Harry and it caused Sara to become more and more intrigued about the nature of their relationship. Harry told her a lot about his travels, but even he said there were a lot of things.

"This is Sara, one of my wives, and my bodyguard, today," Harry said.

"Right, so you're the one who is protecting everyone form Harry," Diana said.

"Right, it's…wow, you're really her, aren't you?" Sara asked. She took a moment to adjust her stance. "I mean, it's a pleasure to meet you, I had no idea you knew Harry."

Sara's eyes shifted over towards Harry, but the young man answered her with a smile.

"I didn't really have a good enough opportunity to inform you," Harry said. He walked towards Sara and leaned towards her, so only the two of them could hear each other. "You know, if I would have know the Amazon Princess made you wet in the panties, I would have told you a long time ago."

Sara shifted away from Harry, trying not to look too critical of her master and husband.

"You're making it up to me later," Sara said, with a smile.

"I'll put in the good word for you," Harry said.

"Good," Sara said.

Harry leaned towards her and gave her a long kiss. Sara indulged Harry in the intense kiss, before the young man pulled away from her.

"Some things never change, do they?" Diana asked. Harry raised an eyebrow, looking at the Amazon Princess with a smile. "I'd imagine they really don't."

"Not with me, Diana," Harry said. "Even though I died and came back to life."

Diana wanted to hear the story behind Harry's death and resurrection, but her patience allowed her not to blurt out to ask him the obvious question. She would know when it was time for her to know and not a second before, at least in her mind.

"Well, I'm sure you can explain to me the problem," Harry said. "Unless, this is just a field trip your mother sent you on to get some cultural perspective on the outside world."

"Partially, but there's a problem," Diana said. "And I need your help….."

"Does this have anything to with Ares?" Harry asked.

The Amazon Princess blinked in surprise and nodded. Harry blew her mind half of the time with his casual statement. A number of questions entered Diana's mind and she decided to dive in for the most abrupt of all of the questions possible.

"How?"

Harry chuckled, after all of these years, he still rendered the Princess speechless. He waved her inside of the limo and Diana no doubt thought an explanation was in order.

* * *

Artemis watched Thea training, rather intently. Rose decided to show up by Artemis's side to watch her observation of Thea's training.

"So, how do you think she's coming along?" Rose asked. "Six months before we throw her out on the field?"

"This isn't Gotham City, the entire teenage sidekick thing doesn't go over well here," Artemis said.

"Oh, are you interesting in picking up a sidekick?" Rose asked.

Artemis turned her attention to the young woman who managed to hit the target with increased frequency.

"Well, I'd like to think of her as someone who could watch my back," Artemis said. She leaned back, stretching out her arms. The woman's nose scrunched up in the deepest of deep thoughts. "Harry and Sara are there for me a lot of the time, but they can't be with me all of the time."

"Yes, indeed," Rose said. "And you see something in her, don't you?"

Much to the interest of both of the other women, Thea pinned one on the target. A prideful smile spread over Artemis's face as she watched Thea hit the target full on one more time.

"I see a lot of potential in her, yes," Artemis said. "But, I want her to be able to defend herself, not be able to throw her into the war as a soldier."

"What does Harry think about your assessment?" Rose asked.

"Harry pretty much agrees with me," Artemis said. "He thinks Thea will be valuable in the future, but not to push her out there. Especially when her emotions are running high."

Rose knew all about emotions running high. She spent half of her life in captivity, and experimented on. Rose owed a lot of her life to Harry.

The mercenary's eye watched Thea hit another target. The interesting thing which put a smile on Rose's face was where Thea had a lot of room for improvement and a lot of time to improve with.

"She's not too bad," Rose said. "Pretty solid all things considered."

Artemis smiled, Rose's assessment looked to be pretty spot on. The archer made her way up and clapped, which brought Thea out of zone.

"So, how did I know?" Thea asked.

"You still hesitate and think things through too much," Artemis said. "You need to find the right balance between trusting your impulses and going through with a strategy."

Thea wished she knew exactly what Artemis talked about. Every time she thought the sweet spot had been hit, something.

"One day, I'll be ready," Thea said. "I want to clean up things, it's my city."

"One step at a time," Artemis said. "A warrior is not trained in a few days…a warrior is forged over many years of intense preparation…granted, we don't have many years, but we're going to have to make due with what we have."

Thea nodded in response. She didn't have to like the fact she waited. The fact she trained underneath such a legion of skilled fighters blew the teenager's mind. Just to think a few months ago, she was a normal teenager, perhaps on a self-destructive path like her brother's, which lead him onto the ship.

"But, there's more to fighting than shooting a stationary target," Artemis said. She stepped into the middle of the floor. "You can see what you can do about hitting a moving target."

Thea blinked and she looked towards Artemis. Surely, Artemis couldn't be saying what Thea thought she said, could she?

"Go ahead, take your best shot."

Thea questioned Artemis's sanity, but not for the first time. She dressed in in a bright green hood, putting arrows into people, who could easily kill her. So, she wouldn't be surprised Artemis offered herself up as a moving target for Thea to fire a few arrows at.

* * *

Vandal Savage waited for a very important meeting of his own. Edge tried to chase down some stolen shipments. His business contact may have cut off Intergang, at least the word on the street indicated so much.

Savage walked past some local toughs on the street. One of them stepped towards him, with a knife drawn, but the displaced caveman grabbed his arm and twisted it. The arm snapped as he drove the man to his knees. With another motion, Savage kicked the good to the side like yesterday's trash.

"I trust you boys won't bother me today," Savage said.

"No, man, you're cool with us," one of the goons said.

"Good, I'm glad we're cool," Savage said.

Savage walked past the toughs, all of them shaken like scared children. The world grew soft in this generation, despite their bravado. Savage intended to fix it by weeding out the week.

"Good day, Mr. Savage."

"Ares," Vandal Savage said. "I do hope the group outside haven't been recruited by you."

"They're not my recruits," Ares said. He placed a folder down on the desk. "My recruits wouldn't have been humiliated as easily….but they do have their uses."

"Cannon fodder is essential to fight every war," Savage said.

"Correct," Ares said. The man flipped open the folder on the desk before Savage. "We've sped up Merlyn's time table….but we can start a war on two fronts."

"Star Labs?" Savage asked. "He isn't even close to completing what we need there."

"Not yet, but….it doesn't need to be complete to create my army," Ares said. "And if countless of civilians die, without receiving powers, all so much the better."

Mass deaths stirred up fear and panic, and fear and panic lead to war. War kept the humans humble. Ares thought the world had been too peaceful, and everyone had been so secure. Stirring up insurgents in the Middle East only went so far, but it didn't strike close enough to home for the people in this company.

"And only the strong will survive what we have planned," Savage said. "A war on two fronts."

Once they had the artifact from Edge, they could really get to work.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter Thirty-Eight: Gambit of Ares:**

* * *

 ****One thing Diana's Amazon training left her would be a thrill for the hunt and a desire to find her target to take him down. Joining Harry gave her someone who could fight beside her without her having any worry as to where he would stand. Diana knew one thing and Harry would stand by Diana's side no matter what. Diana hoped this lead didn't really pan out to be honest, but if it did, she was ready.

Harry gave her a recap of everything which happened since they parted ways. Diana whistled when Harry finished telling her everything. One thing Diana would say about Harry was he lived an adventure of a life through thick and thin. Diana wished she had been present for some of it.

"So, you finally left the circus," Diana said.

"There wasn't much left to do," Harry said. "Besides, there are other explored avenues….but from what my eyes and ears are telling me, the world hasn't fallen apart."

Diana raised her eyebrow when she looked at Harry. Harry chuckled at the most obvious "oh really" look passing over the face of the Amazon Princess.

"Well, not as much where it effects my life and the lives of people outside of the land of wand waving wonderment," Harry said. He perched himself from his position on the shadow. "But, we're not dealing with the past, we're dealing with the present."

Diana nodded and the present they dealt with could be pretty dangerous if they were not careful. The Amazon Princess braced herself, holding the crossbow she held. The two of them slipped outside of the penthouse underneath the cover of darkness.

"You've really done well for yourself though," Diana said.

"Yes," Harry said. He smiled when he looked at the door. "Locked."

Harry didn't think a locked door should be a deterrent to anyone and a locked door most certainly wasn't a deterrent to him. Harry learned about three dozen ways to break into a building which had been locked. Some of those methods looked to be a tad bit messier and a tad bit noisier than others. Harry decided to go for the more subtle way of picking the lock with magic.

The lazy way of doing it, but Harry managed to open the lock. He slipped inside the next room, with Diana following him.

The two of them entered the penthouse which looked to be a tacky Greek design. Harry closed the door behind them.

"So, it won't hurt to have a look around," Harry said.

Diana looked around, but despite the tacky layout of the penthouse, the Amazon Princess didn't know what they expected to find in this place, but maybe it was the idea. Harry seemed to know what he looked for and what he wanted.

The young man rifled through the desk drawer and found a crumpled up invoice shoved in the drawer. Harry perked up for a half of a second.

"Someone is coming," Harry said.

Harry did a back flip and made his way into the shadows, to make himself scarce. Diana followed, slipping into the shadows right next to him. She waited to see what would happen, with Harry reaching over and grabbing her around the hand tightly.

A figure swept into the room, in a bit of a bad mood. He looked to be a younger man.

"It has to be around here somewhere….ah, here it is."

The man activated a secret room from behind the penthouse. Harry shook his head. All of those penthouses had those secret rooms, it was almost like a feature.

The man walked down a set of stairs and Harry and Diana followed them, still in invisibility. The two of them crouched down into the darkness. Several more men surrounded be a large spear like device mounted on a large black platform. One of them pointed the weapon at a large statue.

"We're going to see what this bad boy can really do."

The blast of lightning connected with the statue. Harry noticed several other weapons on the ground. They resembled the HIVE weapons in some ways, but they were modified just enough to give their own flare. Harry didn't know what to expect.

Diana looked like she wanted to jump into battle, but Harry realized something. He made sure no one else could hear their words.

"There's bound to be more shipments….this is just the tip of the iceberg," Harry said.

"Make sure this one is on schedule."

A man dressed in elegant robes with dark hair walked down the steps. He walked in a hurry, not knowing Diana and Harry stood about three feet away from his shoulder.

Diana stifled a gasp when she realized Ares stood in the flesh. He placed his hand on the shoulders of four of the guards. Three of them transformed into soldiers, which divine armor and weaponry the likes the world had never seen. The fourth slumped to the ground, almost like he had a stroke.

"Not worthy," Ares said. "A pity."

Diana and Harry both realized they dealt with Ares. Who vanished as quickly as he arrived.

Harry made his move to sabotage this shipment, knowing there would be others out there, at other locations. Ares never seemed to be the type to throw all of his eggs into one basket, as far as Harry could tell anyway.

* * *

Across town, Ares needed to unload another shipment. With Intergang working their way into Starling City from Metropolis, Ares could start stirring up sentiment of the discontent within the Glades, before it had been destroyed. He met with Merlyn all of those years ago and the man came to him with a vision. Ares didn't need to corrupt this one, he had darkness in his soul already, but the God of War happily lead a helping hand.

"I hope you've got the goods, because my boys and I are going to need them if we have a chance to match up with Intergang, Mr. Ares."

The large well-built man folded his arms when he stared down Ares. Ares understood some of them didn't take him seriously because of his attire, but the proof happened to be in what he brought before them.

"I'm well aware of your problems with Intergang," Ares said. His three guards loaded out a particularly large crate before them. "And this is going to solve all of your problems with them."

A couple of the gang members snorted, but the leader turned his attention towards them with a warning glance in his eyes. The two of them fell back into line.

"We'll believe it when we'll see it. We've been the victim of a double-deal before….and we're not really in the mood to be tricked into one again."

Ares made a casual motion for his hand, causing the crate to be cracked open before them. A bright black weapon lifted out of the weapon. A red energy cell perched on the top of the weapon, shimmering in the light. The energy radiated between them.

"Nice looking flashlight, but does it work?" one of the goons asked.

Ares pulled the weapon out and pointed it at the goon. The third time the man mouthed off to him tonight was about three times too many. With a click, the weapon fired up and launched a red energy blast.

The other goons stepped back in horror. The weapon bombarded the goon and reduced him to a pile of ashes where the man once stood a few minutes ago.

The leader of the pack stared at the pile of ashes which was one of his boys for a few seconds. The well-built man started to chuckle. The chuckles started a bit low, but they turned into an insane amount of chuckles.

"Well, you do give us what we pay for," the man said.

"I always pay my end of the contract, Mr. Brickwell," Ares said. "These weapons have the potential to make you kings of this city….if you have the people to properly wield them."

"Mr. Ares, I like your style," Brickwell said. He cracked his knuckles and turned to the goons, all of them which stepped back, not wanting to experience the same fate as their friend. "And if you're going to start a war, you're going to start a war with style."

The do-gooders in this town fought with knives and arrows, well, it was time to tip the scales. Intergang had some Star Wars level shit, well they had weapons even more powerful and would pack a more destructive punch.

"Now these grenades, they can blow up half of a city block," Ares said. "But, they should only be used, sparingly."

"Of course, I know what I'm doing," Brickwell said. He cracked his knuckles together and gave a grimace when he looked at his men. "Well, what are you boys waiting for….gather up everything? Two at a time, come on, get it all."

The goons all walked around to each other and started to pick up the weapons. Some of them felt like live wire in their hand.

"Ugly think he has the real hook up, well, he's going to see what we can do," Brick said. "Time for us to take control….no little do-gooder in a green hood is going to stop us, no anyone."

The men cheered in response and they moved out, preparing to put their newly gotten gains to the test when they reclaimed their territory.

Ares watched these gentlemen leave, a crisp smile spreading over his face when he watched them leave. The danced around like some well formulated puppets on a string. Then again, those who always entered a war could be easily manipulated, especially when they had something to fight for.

* * *

Morgan Edge found himself looking over his shoulder. He tried to radio his guards from the front gate, but none of them answered.

"Where are they, what are they doing?" Edge asked.

Edge made his way outside the door and rolled over a figure who laid face first in the pavement. Blood flowed from a wound in the man's check. The man blinked and leaned down, seeing another figure, this time with a more prominent arrow in his chest.

"The vigilante," Edge said.

His bodyguard picked the worst night to take a night off, because something came up. Edge thought he could handle it with a small private security force. Edge reached into his pocket and pulled out a handgun.

"I know you're out there."

No answer, and Edge emptied a clip from the gun into the shadows. A barrage of bullets fired into the mist, but nothing.

Edge stepped back for a moment. He emptied the entire gun into absolutely nothing.

A figure swung down from the heavens and slammed both feet into the back of the head of Edge. The figure showed an immense amount of strength, before hurling Morgan Edge halfway across the parking lot.

Edge scrambled into the parking garage. He tried to reach into a case to grab a fire ax, anything to defend himself. One of the arrows caught him with a glancing blow to the wrist, shattering it and slicing into it.

The figure slammed his hand against the control panel, trapping him within the garage.

"Did you really think you would be able to get one over me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Edge said.

Edge tried to pull himself up to a standing position, coming face to face with a figure dressed completely in black. The figure wielded a bow and arrow at him.

"Did you really think you could get away?" the Dark Archer asked.

Edge's arm became extremely numb from the injury. He closed his eyes and wished for something, someone to save you.

"Your security is pathetic, and….now I have everything I want, I don't need you."

Edge rose to his feet and threw the briefcase at the Archer's feet.

"Take it, there's money, millions in there even!"

The archer looked down at Edge and looked down at him. For a brief second, the businessman thought he would take the money and all would be good.

"You think you can buy me, don't you?" the archer asked.

"Please, take anything you want!" Edge yelled. The man tried to grab the axe handle on the ground one more time, but the figure lifted the axe off of the ground and hurled it halfway across the garage. "People are going to…they're going to find out what you're doing."

"If they find you dead, they'll assume the vigilante got to you," the Dark Archer said. "No one is surprised….you're a loose end….."

"Ares is trying to double-deal you….he wants something, I don't know what….."

"If Ares is going to betray me, I will deal with him in due time," the Dark Archer said. The figure pulled back his bow. "Just like I needed to deal with you."

An arrow caught Edge in a very vital spot. Blood spurted out the side of his neck which caused him to drop down to the ground.

"You bring this filth onto my streets," the Archer said, kicking one of the crates open and revealing several high tech weapons. "And you make everything worse….I won't stand for it."

The Archer attached an explosive device to the base of the crate. The figure stepped back and pressed a button, destroying several crates.

Intergang still would have leadership, but without their backer, they would less of a threat. One threat down, another several threats to go.

 _'Now time to get everything back on schedule.'  
_

* * *

Sara flashed a smile at her older sister. The intense look on the face of older sister made Sara pretty pleased. The woman turned her hand over and motioned for Dinah to rush forward.

Dinah thought she became more aware of her surroundings. A kick fired at Sara, but she dodged around it. Sara made her way behind her, with Dinah flipping her down to the ground. The two Lance sisters circled each other.

Sara went to the stomach with a punch, but Dinah turned her arm around. Dinah shoved her back against the wall. Sara bounced off the wall doing a back flip and sticking the landing.

"Good, and again!"

Dinah charged her sister again and tried to take her down to the ground. Sara slipped out of the attack and made her way on the other side of her. A series of rapid fire kicks rocked the stunning young woman. Dinah blocked the punches and also blocked a snap kick as well on the rebound. Dinah rushed Sara in an attempt to take her head out with a huge roundhouse punch.

Sara dodged the attack, and staggered Dinah with another snap kick.

"One of these days, I'm going to avoid…." Dinah said.

Sara swung a punch at her which caused Dinah to avoid the sick assaults. Each punch was studied, and Sara varied up her attacks. Every single time the fought, Dinah became better.

Artemis stepped into the room and sat herself down. She took a drink of water and watched the intense battle before her.

Dinah focused on taking her sister down to the ground at least once and getting on top of the situation. A double leg takedown brought her down to the ground, taking the wind completely out of her.

"Good," Sara said, pulling herself to a standing position. "Watch your back, though."

Dinah avoided the kick which came precious seconds from nailing her flush in the face. Sara pulled back, which almost left the older sister open for a takedown. Dinah grabbed Sara, and took her down onto the ground, flipping her down.

"So, I am getting better?" Dinah asked.

Sara reached up, grabbed Dinah by the arm, and flipped her to the ground. The two of them broke apart.

"I don't know, you tell me," Sara said.

Dinah responded by flipping Sara back down onto the ground. The two of them rose to a standing position and faced off at each other.

"Well, I think it's time," Dinah said.

"Yes, sit down," Sara said. "To answer your question, you've improved….and you're getting a little bit more focused with each day."

Dinah flashed a tiny bit of a smile over her face and sat down. Rose joined the two of them.

"So, how is Thea doing?" Dinah asked. "I…..I feel bad I wasn't there for her….I mean, we had mutual grief with each other."

"She's excelling all expectations," Artemis said. She handed Dinah a water bottle who drank it with a flash of a smile spreading over her face. "Maybe she'll be out on the field before the end of the year."

"Are you sure it's a wise idea?" Dinah asked.

"Maybe not, but….Harry isn't big about wasting potential," Artemis said.

"And you wanted a sidekick," Rose said. Artemis gave her a side long glare.

Rose walked over to one of the bags. She kicked away at the bag, first at a softer tempo, and then at a harder tempo, putting an elegant looking dent in the back. The bag swung hanging from the chain.

"But, your focus is much better," Artemis said. She gave Dinah a teasing smile. "Being in a relationship with Harry will do it for you."

Dinah smiled and thought her focus was all over the map, at least until she started to sleep with Harry, on a regular basis.

The door opened up and Cassandra stepped inside. The normally reserved girl stepped inside, looking a bit agitated for some reason.

"Cass, what's up?" Sara asked.

"Turn on the television and see," Cass said.

Rose, being the nearest to the remote, clicked the television. The image on the television screen showed Morgan Edge.

"Morgan Edge has been assassinated, along with several members of his staff, by the mysterious Starling City Vigilante. A reward has been put out for one million dollars for anyone who comes forward with information on the archer."

Artemis snorted, a million dollars, why would they insult her?

"And this just in, a group of Intergang members are fighting a group of local toughs….Starling City Law Enforcement are commanding the people stay off the streets."

"And, without Edge to keep them on a leash, Intergang is going to be even more trouble," Artemis said.

"You didn't take him out?" Dinah asked. Artemis looked towards Dinah for a long second, eyes burned onto her. "Sorry, it's just….."

"Don't worry, you didn't know," Artemis said. She moved her way over to the secret compartment and began to get her gear. "Someone wanted to start a war….."

"Ares," Sara said.

"You mean like the God of War, Ares?" Dinah asked.

"No, not like the God of War, Ares," Sara said. Dinah relaxed for a brief moment. "He is the God of War, Ares."

"No, as in the Greek…"

"Laurel, you're going to have to trust me on this one….you haven't seen a lot of the insane things which Harry encounters on a daily basis. A living, breathing, Greek God is pretty low on the list of insanity."

Cass and Rose nodded somberly. Artemis already geared up and made her way out the door.

"Wait," Cass said.

"I can't wait for too long," Artemis said.

"Both sides have weapons," Cass said. "Dangerous weapons…..you aren't going to be able to fight them….not with your bow and arrow alone."

"Well, what good I am anyway?"

Cass didn't really blink because of Artemis's impassionate words.

"We're going to need a plan and some heavy duty help," Sara said. She turned towards Dinah. "So, how is your vocal control?"

"Better," Dinah said. "What are you….."

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to," Sara said. "And I never want you to put yourself in danger if I can help it."

"Hey, don't worry about putting me in danger," Dinah said. She stood up straighter, looking her younger sister in the eye. "If you put me in danger, I'll be the one who worries about it."

Sara nodded, but they would need more than her older sister's new powers. Some real super powered help, and thankfully, Sara knew where to get it.

* * *

Diana and Harry slipped past the three guards which Ares made. The Amazon Princess stepped forward for the battle, a crossbow in one hand. She looked at the crossbow and put it away.

Anyone could receive god like powers, but receiving the god like powers and actually using them were two different things?

"Show yourself!"

One of the guards stepped towards the shadow. Harry reached forward and grabbed the guard around the arm, before snapping his arm behind his back. The guard fell to the ground.

Not allowing Harry to have all of the fun, Diana grabbed the goon around the waist and brought him down to the ground with a sickening smash.

"Tell me what Ares plans," Harry said.

"How dare do you?" he asked.

The shadow images bombarded the head of the goon and started to force the information out of him.

"Ares managed to arm some local goons with some weapons," Harry said.

The good news was, given they copied the same general design of the HIVE weapons which Harry procured all those months ago, he could have a counter.

"What worries me is what Ares will do when his plan is foiled?" Diana asked.

Harry didn't say anything, but he found intrigued. If he knew Ares and how he worked, the Starling City gang war only looked to be part one of a two phase plan.

"Yes, Sara, I know….I'll be with you in a minute."

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	39. Chapter 39

_Vote for the 2015 story of the year i the poll currently in the profile. Voting ends on December 31st, 2015. Don't delay, vote today.  
_

 **Chapter Thirty-Nine: To Stop a War:**

* * *

Brickwell walked out, smelling the air in his town. The air would smell a lot better if it wasn't polluted by outsiders, thinking they were some big shots because they came from Metropolis. One of his boys jogged, huffing and puffing when he showed up behind the man.

"You should drop a few pounds, you might not sound like you're about to have a heart attack," Brickwell said. The man blinked when he stared down his boss. "Well, don't just stand there and look pretty. Tell me what the hell is going on."

"Well, sir, it's….well….."the man said. He decided to hold out the news report. "Morgan Edge had been shot up by the vigilante…well I thought it would be bound to happen sooner than later. Only wish I would have taken out the bastard myself….but going to have to settle for the ugly fuck instead."

A group of gentlemen stepped forward, waiting for a car to pull up. Three well-dressed men exited the car. All of them packed laser blasters. The weapons were well passed anything the military ever used. A man stepped forward, wearing a face only a mother would love, and it would only be out of obligation. Bruno Mannheim stepped to go face to face.

"Brick, you thug, I warned you it's Intergang territory now," Mannheim said. "I gave you and your boys seventy-two hours to clear out."

Brickwell stared down Mannheim for a moment. The thug started to laugh when he looked down at Mannheim.

"You're taking the piss out of me, aren't you?" Brickwell asked. "You really think you can just bully us around….well the biggest boys are the ones who have the biggest toys. And you aren't shit without your benefactor, are you?"

"Edge was just our man in the public, I've moved up in the world," Mannheim said.

"Right, well we've got one thing in common," Brickwell said. He shifted a miniature grenade out of his pocket. "You have a minute to get the fuck out of my face."

Mannheim stared at Brickwell for the longest moment, unable to believe this punk dared talk back to him. He couldn't believe a word which came out of the bastard's mouth. Mannheim clutched his fist and pulled out a blaster.

"I'm going to run this city, whether you, the law, or some nutcase in a hood likes it, or not."

"Intergang is going to have everything, so step aside, before I put a matching hole in your chest to go in the one with your head."

Both sides stood on either side of each other. The posturing between the two parties resulted in a tense standoff where something had to break, somehow. The question would be what would break.

Brickwell tossed the grenade in the air, which landed on the top of Mannheim's limo. The grenade caused whatever it touched to turn into dust when activated.

"The next one would be….."

"You son of a bitch!" Mannheim yelled, taking a shot at Brickwell. "No one takes my car!"

Brickwell backed off and threw another grenade, this time at Mannheim. Mannheim used one of his boys as a shield. The grenade hit the man. The man's mouth opened up in horror when the grenade reduced him to dust.

Mannheim grabbed the weapon dropped. With two guns in his hand, the man started to fire at both of them. The goons staggered back a couple of steps.

"Bring it online, and blow him out of the Glades!" Brickwell yelled.

One of the goons armed a device, perched on the roof. A lighting bolt cracked through the sky and nailed another Mannheim thug. The searing sensation of lighting striking him forced the goon to scream in absolute horror.

Mannheim rushed forward and grabbed Brickwell, slamming him against the wall.

"Alright, you son of a bitch, now you've pissed me off."

Brickwell punched Mannheim in the gut and sent him flying back against the wall. He lifted one of the grenades over his head.

"You really want to join your boss, don't you?" Brickwell asked. "Well, don't let me be the one which breaks up the happy reunion."

More Intergang thugs showed up and began to fire. The immense and high tech gunfire caught the attention of the Starling City Police Department.

"Well, I wanted to use this grenade on you," Brickwell said. He rolled the grenade onto the ground, causing it to roll underneath the cop cars.

The ground vanished underneath the cop cars, forcing them to skid to a complete stop. One of the cars flipped over, almost taking out the Intergang goons. The goons scattered in several different directions, avoiding being taken out.

The war started to begin, with several flames shooting up. From his vantage point, Ares smiled, but this was just one step of a larger war.

* * *

Harry and Diana slipped into the Starling City Morgue, passed one guard. Harry turned around and raised his hand, before waving a hand. The young man fell asleep without any thought.

"Always an impressive trick," Diana said.

"My magic hands are useful for other things than pleasure," Harry said. "And he's dreaming of a better job than working security detail at the morgue."

Diana smiled, talk about the worst possible job possible. The stench caused her smile to fade. The two of them entered.

Harry closed his eyes when he saw Morgan Edge on the table. He stepped as close as possible. All he needed was to touch one finger to the man's body. The details of his death swam into him, from Edge's POV, as it happened.

The young man noticed a figure dressed in dark garb firing a series of arrows into Edge, killing him. The manner of death made the people in this city think the vigilante, but the attacker intended to do so.

"Attacked by several arrows, impaled repeatedly," Harry said.

"Hera."

" No, Hera had nothing to do with it. Rather it was a traitor named Malcolm Merlyn."

Diana stood up and looked at the figure who joined them in the Morgue. The Amazon Princess didn't really look surprised at the presence of the newest guest inside of the tomb. She dressed in an elegant set of black and red robes, pulling down the edge of her mask, exposing her face.

"Diana, this is Nyssa, she's my wife and the reason why I'm now the head of the League of Assassins," Harry said. "Nyssa, this is Diana, the Princess of the Amazons."

Nyssa reached in and gripped Diana around the hand, shaking her hand for a long moment. The two of the stared each other in the eye.

"It's an honor to meet you, Princess Diana," Nyssa said. Her lips curled into a slight smile when she took in the wonderful figure of this wonderous woman. "I didn't know Harry knew you."

"Well, it never had the chance to come up in casual conversation," Harry said.

Nyssa figured as much. She moved over to Edge. As much as it pleased her to see the bastard laying on the slab, with arrows impaled through his body, Nyssa hated the reason.

"Dead men tell no tales," Nyssa said. She looked towards Harry. "Even with your powers, they don't tell any tales."

Harry nodded, dragging a soul back from the afterlife might get a few scraps of information here and there. For the most part, those powers resulted in him getting blood from a turnip. Most of the interviews with these damned souls resulted in them screaming and yelling because they had been plucked out of their peaceful rest. The young man almost felt sorry for them.

"But, the injuries he suffered tell plenty of tales," Nyssa said. "And this was a preemptive attack…..Artemis was close to closing in and getting information out of him."

Close, but not quite, as the arrow wounds showed Harry. The young man's eyes brushed over the dead body. With his powers, he received a few more scraps of information, at least in his mind. Many other unanswered questions spread through him.

"Ares is tied into this, isn't he?" Diana asked.

"He is the wild card," Harry said after a long second. The three of them slipped out of the morgue, nothing else to learn here.

Ares maneuvered his way into this situation in an adept manner, and in some ways, Merlyn looked to be a puppet dancing on a string.

"Don't count Merlyn out," Nyssa said. She decided to give Harry a casual warning, even though she knew Harry knew. "He isn't as manipulated as you would think….even if he is biting off more than he could chew."

Nyssa reminded herself of the man who successfully evaded the League for some wrong. Granted, his network of allies chipped away with each passing day, but Nyssa almost respected the fact the man had escaped them.

"You sound like you respect him," Diana said.

Harry knew the response to the answer and Nyssa's burning eyes flashed right over towards Diana.

"I can respect someone's abilities, but don't confuse any respect I have for leniency," Nyssa said. She reached over and smiled, placing her hand on Diana's shoulder. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

"I have no doubt you know what you're doing," Diana said. "And I'll be happy to help you both…if Ares is working with this Merlyn, he's my responsibility as well."

"Tonight, Merlyn drops," Harry said. "It won't be easy with Cain and his mercenaries protecting him at every turn….then he will need to be taken out."

Cain was on their list, and Nyssa wanted to personally bury a blade in Cain for what he did to Cassandra. Nyssa saw up close and personal the state he put Cassandra in. She clutched her hand.

"He will be taken out," Nyssa said. "But, we should allow Cassandra be the one to finish him off…it will allow her to face her demons completely."

Diana understood through her training how brutal war could be and she could see the group being lead to war against each other on this day. The three departed completely.

* * *

Brickwell watched with the Intergang goons falling one at a time. Mannheim armed himself with a flamethrower and prepared to back off Brickwell and his boys. The ashen face of the Intergang leader swam with horror and a load of fear as well.

"What's the matter?" Brickwell asked. He stepped closer to Mannheim.

"Just stand back, stand back if you know what's good for you!" Mannheim yelled.

"Look at it, you're running out of human shields," Brickwell said. He turned his eyes around and noticed a police escort off to one side. He lifted his weapon and pointed it over his head. A blast of red lightning flew over him. "I'm going to look forward taking you apart…piece, by piece."

Mannheim tried to look up without showing any fear. His legs turned extremely numb when he stared down Brickwell.

A barrage of arrows flew over the top of one of the buildings and knocked the men who aimed the lightning generator at the city. Two of them anyway, but a third dodged an arrow. He reached into his overcoat and threw one of the grenades. The grenade hit the side of the building, utterly demolishing the building.

Rose slipped behind the goon on one end, and grabbed the goon around the head. She wrapped her arms around his neck with a chokehold. The man started to gag, before Rose launched the goon off of the building, at Brickwell's feet!

"You've brought a knife to a gun fight, you hooded freak," Brickwell said.

Two more of his goons were taken out in a flash of light. One of them had been lifted off of the ground and hurled into a window.

"Alright, bring it!" Brickwell yelled. He aimed the laser blaster.

Mannheim raised his hand and picked up a section of the pipe, nailing Brickwell in the back of his leg. Brickwell slammed into the wall.

"What are you doing, you tosser!" Brickwell grumbled. Mannheim smashed the back of Brickwell's head into a brick wall.

Mannheim ignored Brickwell's goons getting taken down in him. Mannheim wrapped his hands around the throat of the mobster.

"I told you, to stay the fuck out of my face," Mannheim said.

A sonic blast caused Mannheim to fling his head back. He screamed in agony. A figure swooped down from the ceiling and dripped a kick down onto her adversary's head.

Sara almost hated to break up the little catfight, but she had to take them down. She watched her sister drop down by the side.

"Well, looks like a couple of street walkers here," Brick said. He reached into his coat, to pull out another one of the grenades to blow them straight away.

A super powered blur flew in the opposite direction and ripped the grenade out of his hand. One of the goons staggered, almost collapsing onto his knees.

The Intergang goons tried to take advantage of the figure taking out their weapons, but she blasted against one of them with a blast of heat vision. The weapons all had been ripped out of their hands, with the super powered heroine continuing to disarm them one by one.

"Alright, you're asking for one now," Brickwell said. He aimed one of the large blasters at her. "Come out and play."

The figure continued to run around, becoming a rather prominent blur. Every second Brickwell tried to attack her, she dodged out of the way.

Brickwell scrambled up the set of steps, and made his way up to the lightning machine. He gave an angry shove, causing the enemy to scramble out of the way.

"One side," Brickwell said. He aimed the weapon own at the ground, preparing to fire it up. "Get ready to be blown away."

Dinah looked up, frowning when she noticed him. She decided to try something.

"Stand back," Dinah said. She removed her choker device and opened her mouth.

A super sonic Canary cry caught the building hard. The building started to topple over and caused Brickwell to scream when the building crumbled out from underneath him.

The dust cleared in time for Brickwell to be buried underneath a load of bricks. A couple more breaths came through his body before the man collapsed down to the ground.

Dinah almost couldn't believe what she did, but a smile crossed over her face when she looked down at him.

"I think we stopped them," Dinah said.

"You didn't put your choker back on," Sara said. Dinah smiled at her. "Guess, I have control."

Mannheim rose to his feet and pumped one hand up, standing over the fallen of Brickwell.

"Yeah, you punk, you thought you could…ARGH!"

Kara knocked out Mannheim with a flick of her finger causing him to smash against the wall. Mannheim's body slumped down to the ground, resembling a puppet having it's strings snipped off.

* * *

Ares watched the scene around him. Despite his puppets having their strings cut, Ares smirked.

"You're rather happy for someone who lost millions of dollars of weapons to the League of Assassins."

Ares turned to see Savage walk towards him. The immortal caveman frowned the closer he walked to the God of War. Ares responded by removing a bottle of wine and pouring a glass for the caveman. Savage took a second to eye the glass, wondering what game he played.

"I wouldn't poison you…your brutality pleases me."

Savage thanked any higher power he could think of for small favors. The God of War threatened even his immortality.

"So, a toast to our great accomplishments, then?" Ares asked.

"I wouldn't be so certain our accomplishments are great, Merlyn has killed Morgan Edge," Savage said. "And I haven't been able to look up the artifact we require. And the Dragon looms closer….he will find us, especially when he's been joined by her."

"Yes, the Amazons intend to gain their revenge on me," Ares said. "Their creed of peace sickens me."

Ares took a long drink from the bottle of wine.

"We cannot linger and wait for you to find the artifact,"

Ares didn't sound too displeased and Savage's gratitude increased he didn't blame him for what happened. Perhaps there would still be some hope he could accomplish.

"We will be out of Starling, and our next stop is Central City."

Savage hoped this plan of Ares would work. Many would perish, but the thought caused Savage to smile. The world grew dangerous with overpopulation, and Savage needed to thin out a few people. War often did the job nicely, if he learned anything during his time on Earth.

No matter what, Savage would survive everything.

* * *

Harry made his way to the rooftop, following a lead on the murderer. A figure stepped out of the shadows.

"Come out, your reckoning is at hand."

"I couldn't agree more."

A figure stepped out of the shadows, dressed in the ceremonial attire which represented the way the League was during the previous leadership. Harry stepped towards him.

"Where will the League be when the Dragon has been slayed?"

"In all fairy tales, a magician has slayed the fearsome dragon," the dreaded one said. His eyes glowed with a fearsome amount of energy. "A shame this won't have a happily ever after for you, Merlyn."

A barrage of arrows shot at Harry, but he dodged them with quick precision. The arrows vanished in a blast of light.

"Not bad," Harry said. Several flaming daggers appeared and Harry propelled them at the Dark Archer.

The Dark Archer evaded pretty much every single attack Harry fired off at him. Giving the devil his due, Harry thought the archer managed to avoid them all.

"You wear an outfit of a dead era of the League. But there are some wounds which need to be plucked."

Harry dodged another arrow and jumped towards him. The Archer flipped off of the building and landed to a lower ledge, before ascending up the ladder.

The moment he ascended up the leader, the Dragon fired a couple of swift kicks at him.

"I've decided to rebuild this city, and you're not going to destroy my hard work."

Despite not having the physical or mystical gifts of the dragon, the archer kept a couple of steps ahead of his adversary. The archer sprung himself over the top of the roof and landed with a firm drop. He loaded up the arrows and started to fire them in a rapid fire succession, but the figure blocked the arrows, causing them to disappear into the night.

The figure decided to throw in a skilled blade toss, but Harry caught the blade in his hand. The dagger glowed with energy and Harry fired it back at him. The bow disarmed him in a matter of seconds. Harry rushed the figure and drilled him with a running kick to the face. The archer slammed down onto the ground.

"Let us not play any games," Harry said. The hood ripped back and the figure tried to kick his way, to shield his face. The hood and mask burned, revealing the face of David Cain. "So, you still stand between him and my vengeance, as a shield."

"You don't understand, we're trying to rebuild the world," Cain said. Harry hoisted up the man in the air and caused him to slam onto the ground.

The sorcerer stood on top of Cain's chest, retracting a blade against him. Cain stared down the blade, but much to his credit, the man never blinked. Harry leaned down to eye him with his most dangerous expression.

"I've fought people who have tried to rebuild the world for most of my life," Harry said. The blade edged closer to Cain's throat. "I should rip you to pieces….but I'll give you a chance for a quick death. Where is Malcolm Merlyn!"

Cain didn't answer the question, in fact, he tried to bite down. The capsule in his mouth to prevent the dishonor of losing, if he ever had been in this unforeseen position, didn't work. Cain tried once more, but the dragon stomped down on his chest to get his attention.

"Your killswitch has been eliminated," Harry said. "I can kill you now."

"But you won't," Cain said. "Because you still need information, and you made my daughter a promise, didn't you?"

"Cassandra will understand, if we need to use….certain methods to break you."

Cain's eyes averted up, to notice a specter of sorts showing up. The one and only Lady Shiva showed up above Cain.

"What are you doing here?" Cain asked.

The assassin understood without a second though in this position, death would be the preferred option. The mother of his daughter stared at him, wielding a blade. She motioned for Harry to step back.

"I will return pay a debt later, when it's needed, but could you back away?" Shiva asked.

Shiva knew a fight against the Dragon would be futile. Could she win it? Likely, but the battle would leave her so ravaged and broken, and would give Cain a chance to slip back into the shadows.

"To your feet," Shiva said. She withdrew the sword from Cain.

"I'm disarmed, what do you want with me?" Cain asked.

"Did you really think you could run?" Shiva asked. "When you tormented my daughter, you tormented a part of me. And I do not kindly take to torment, especially from the likes of you."

"No, I didn't torment, I strengthened her, she was strong because of me," Cain said. "I proved it can be done, to learn how to speak more efficiently through combat."

Harry knew enough to want to kill Cain, but for Shiva's and Cassandra's sake, he stepped back for a few seconds.

The window behind Cain shattered with several arrows coming up from behind him. The arrows impaled Cain.

"No!" Shiva yelled! She rushed through the window, to chase a figure down the steps, but he was gone.

Another one dead, and Harry knew who did it. David Cain fell dead at his feet, the blood flowing from his body. And justice had been denied on this night.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter Forty: To Start a War.**

* * *

Bittersweet described Cassandra Cain's emotions as the girl learned of the demise of her father at the hands or rather the arrows, of the Dark Archer. The young woman kept a steady tempo, firing a series of rapid fire jabs and punches to a bag. The bag started to waver, which meant she hit it too hard. Cassandra dialed back her attacks and punched at the bag with a greatest of ease. She entered her own little world, not worried about the people around her.

Cass thought about her father, what she would have done had she caught up for the man for several years. What did not kill you makes a person stronger and Cassandra supposed she had been made stronger in some twisted, demented, way.

Nyssa, Sara, and Rose watched Cassandra pound away at the bag. All three girls eyed Cassandra extremely nervously when she punched around at the bag, and it kept swinging on the chain. Each punch brought the bag closer to being knocked off.

"She's really taking this entire mess hard, isn't she?" Rose asked.

"Well, it's hard not to tell where she's coming from," Nyssa said. She viewed her friend's actions with nervousness. The intensity Cassandra gave off caused Nyssa to shiver from. "The closure she wanted had been stolen from her. And now she's going to have to deal with what her father did with no way to….."

Sara watched Cassandra when she nailed the bag with an intense kick. She stepped away from the bag and walked from it. She turned around, to go face to face with the one Lady Shiva.

"He killed him," Cassandra said.

"I know," Shiva said. "And he will be hunted down to the ends of the Earth….but he's not in this city any longer. I've….looked underneath every stone."

"Spilling plenty of blood in the process, I'm certain," Sara said.

The words Sara spoke flew completely over the head of Lady Shiva. Shiva situated her daughter, forcing the two of them to look each other in the eye.

"Had I known what Cain intended, I would have focused more on delivering you from his hand," Shiva said. "But, despite your adversity, you have turned out well enough."

"There's some small part of you who is pleased with what he did," Cassandra said. Shiva raised her eyebrow in response. "But, yes, what does not kill you, makes you stronger."

Shiva tried to attack her daughter, but Cassandra blocked her roundhouse punch. Another punch had been blocked and the two of them engage in a hand to hand combat with each other. Both of them kicked and punched each other during this intense confrontation.

Rose, Sara, and Nyssa watched the battle with widened eyes. They noticed Cassandra pushing herself to an entirely new level to get the better of her mother. The dark haired assassin started to hammer away at her mother with a rapid fire series of punches, but Shiva fired back.

"Let out all of the aggression," Shiva said. She made her way around and caused Cassandra to be knocked down to the ground with one elegant move. Shiva had no wasted movement. "Channel it into a well placed hammer, and let it out!"

Shiva backed Cassandra against the wall. Rose, Nyssa, and Sara were joined by Dinah, who stepped back in shock.

No matter how many times she watched Lady Shiva in action, Dinah Laurel Lance never would be anything less than awed. She saw her in action and had the soreness to prove it during the worst of times.

Cassandra nailed her mother with a glancing blow and backed her against the wall. Shiva went for a punch, but Cassandra blocked it. Shiva switched up her fighting style.

"Did I just walk into some kind of family dispute?" Dinah asked.

"No, just Shiva trying to force her daughter to get her aggressions out," Rose said. "So, where did Harry run off to?"

"He went off to Central City," Sara said. Her eyes followed the battle between the two of them, with widened eyes. "He had to conduct some last minute business and follow a lead or two."

"Alone?" Dinah asked.

"Diana went with him, she needed to follow her own leads regarding a certain god of war, "Sara said.

Cassandra knocked her mother down onto the ground and tried to nail her with a running stomp to the face. Shiva avoided Cassandra's attacks and popped up, before nailing her with another rapid fire flurry of fists. Cassandra dropped down to one knee.

"You've done well, my daughter, but you need to channel your anger. Never let it boil inside, because it will paralyze you and burn you up inside."

Cassandra rose up to her feet and nodded, before she stepped outside. Lady Shiva turned to the other women with the barest of acknowledgments and nodded, before walking out the door.

Nyssa tried not to show it, but after all of these months, she still felt a bit of an intimidation factor towards Lady Shiva. Then again, it was mostly respect, because she was the deadliest woman in the world.

* * *

Harry turned up in Central City, having parted ways with Diana. The two of them agreed to keep in contact with each other should they find anything. Why would Ares be lead here to all places? Central City looked like the bright and shiny night to Starling City's dark and stormy day.

Something about the city caused Harry to smile though, and he knew if Ares had his way, he would start corrupting something.

 _'A hawk to the highest degree,'_ Harry thought.

Also, Merlyn was rumored to have a place where he could hide in this city. Although, given the many exotic locations where Merlyn could go when the heat was on, Harry thought Central City lurked at the lowest point of the list. Perhaps it was Merlyn's intention to be honest.

"Harry!"

Harry turned around and saw Caitlin Snow standing waiting for him. She rushed over and engulfed him in a hug, with a smile on her face.

"Hey, Caitlin….sorry for dropping by on such short notice," Harry said. The scientist finally detached herself from around Harry's neck for a long time. "A bit of business came up and I decided to swing by early to see if I can take care of it."

"And you wanted to mix business with pleasure, didn't you?" Caitlin asked.

Harry smiled when he stared back at her. The young woman tried to contain her excitement at seeing him.

"The last time we got together…..well things got a bit awkward," Caitlin said. Harry raised an eyebrow and the woman backed off. "And by awkward, I mean some random time traveler came from the sky, and kind of interrupted our date."

"Yes," Harry said with a smile. He brushed the strands of dark hair away from Caitlin's beautiful face and looked into her shining eyes. "But, it's been taken care of, and I'm free for the next few hours, if you want me."

"Careful, Doctor Potter," Caitlin said. She stood up on her toes and looked him in the eyes. "I might take you up on your….invitation."

Caitlin almost smacked herself in the head from what she said. Her invitation line sounded like something out of an extremely cheesy porno and she couldn't believe what she said. She eyed Harry, tracing her tongue over her lips.

 _'I wanted him bad, but….things didn't end so well before he left town….he really did leave me hanging. Or maybe I just got my hopes up.'_

"Well, I hope you accept my invitation for dinner," Harry said. Caitlin smiled when she looked at him. "I'm pretty sure no super powered people out of time will show up this time."

"Oh, and you should know, I didn't even breath a word to a soul," Caitlin said. She smirked when eying Harry. "Besides, who will believe me?"

"You're in a pretty good mood today," Harry said.

"Well, you showed up, and made my excellent day, so much better," Caitlin said. She walked over next to Harry and pressed herself against him. The body warmth he gave made her smile. "I had been offered a promotion…from intern to full-fledged member of the STAR Labs staff….well when I get all of my college credits, that is."

"Wow, Doctor Wells does know how to scout some talent," Harry said. He looked her in the eyes. "I might have to make you an offer you can't refuse."

"Well, wine and dine me, Doctor Potter," Caitlin said. She reached forward and pressed a hand to his chest. "And you might….you might find I'm interested."

Harry knew how interested she was, anyone who could read even the barest hints of body language noticed how interested she ended up being. Harry's lips flashed into a knowing smile when he escorted Caitlin out.

"Dinner, first," Harry said. "I owe you about as much for having to cut our last date short."

"Oh you do, do you?" Caitlin asked. She stood up on her tip-toes, coming closer to Harry, but seconds later, she pulled back from him.

"Yes," Harry said, wrapping his arm around her and pulling Caitlin into him closely. "I do."

Harry teased her for a brief second, but he wasn't going to pull the trigger just yet. Harry enjoyed making his conquests wait and sweat it out. Something about making them desire what they wanted from him made Harry's lips curl into a knowing smile.

Caitlin grinned ,knowing what game Harry played. If he wanted to play the game, well, she was going to give him a night he would never forget.

* * *

"Well, dinner passed without incident," Caitlin said. The two of them stood in the elevator, coming up to the top floor. "And we're almost back to my apartment."

"How much wine did you have to drink at dinner?" Harry asked.

"Well, I can still stand upright," Caitlin said. She leaned against him with a flirty smile.

"Yes, if you press myself against my arm, you can stand upright," Harry said. Caitlin rolled her eyes at Harry.

"Well, if you need to carry me to my bedroom, I'm sure you can," Caitlin said. She leaned closer towards Harry, and flashed a smile on her face. "After all, a big strong man like yourself should have no real problems getting me into bed."

Caitlin decided to have her fun, knowing tonight would end in a bang, a couple if she had to really guess. The elevator finally reached the top floor.

"Oh, why did I have to pick an apartment down at the end of the hallway?" Caitlin asked.

The only thing she though would be at least there wasn't a tornado coming down to ruin their night. Then again, maybe Caitlin shouldn't really try and tempt fate all this much.

"You really want STAR labs don't you," Caitlin said. "You're really throwing out a hell of a deal for Wells….and….well, why wouldn't anyone take it? I hope it isn't on my account, so you don't have the competition."

"Well, given your credentials, you're going to be highly set," Harry said. "Wells jumped the line and now I'm going adapt."

Caitlin fished through her purse, trying to find her key. Given the disaster area her purse happened to be, easier said than done. The scientist kept rummaging through her purse with a purpose.

Harry watched her frustration grow for about thirty seconds, before he decided to help her out. He reached into her purse.

"Careful, I think there might be a wild animal in there, somewhere," Caitlin said, with a slightly giggly tone to her voice. Harry produced the key. "Oh, I love you."

Caitlin tried to kiss Harry on the cheek, but she succeeded in slumping on her shoulder.

"Well, at least I didn't throw up on your shoulder, it's how I ruined prom night," Caitlin said. She flushed up embarrassment.

The two entered the apartment. The apartment was well-maintained, but Caitlin only came back here to go to sleep on most nights, if she did as much.

"Well, here's my place," Caitlin said. She stood up and gazed in Harry's eyes, trying to fish for any kind of compliments, or complaints depending on the situation. "I know it's not much, but it's a good enough for what I need to do."

Caitlin placed her hands down against her side, managing to find her way onto the couch with a little help from Harry. Harry took the longest look around, with Caitlin biting down on her lip, waiting for his word.

"It's fine," Harry said. He smiled and looked around. "You don't spend too much time here, don't you?"

"Yes, I don't," Caitlin said. The two of them made their way over to the cage. She cringed for a long second where the lights flashed into her eyes. The woman took in a deep breath. "But, hey, it works for what I want to do, doesn't it?"

"I think we just said it," Harry said.

Caitlin never noticed how much she rambled when drunk. She decided to use Harry's shoulder as a stand.

"So, are you going to convince me why I should work for SLE?" Caitlin asked. "I'm not sure if I want to uproot everything and move out of Central City. I might not have much here, but its home."

"I understand," Harry said. "And you know, if my purchase on STAR Labs goes through, nothing about your situation will change."

"So, you are going to purchase the lab just for me?" Caitlin asked. She placed a hand on his mouth to prevent him from speaking. "Please don't tell me I'm wrong."

"Fair enough, I'm not going to," Harry said.

Caitlin took a long second to take a breath. Harry decided to help her out a little bit.

"I have something to make you think straight," Harry said.

"And what if I don't want to think straight?" Caitlin asked.

"Do you want to pass out before the good part of our date, starts?" Harry asked.

Caitlin whistled, she hated to admit it, but Harry had a pretty good point. She touched a hand to the edge of his shoulder, leaning towards him.

"And you're about to fall over before sitting down," Harry said. "Either you had more than a few too many drinks, or…..you can't hold your liquor."

"I didn't drink any more than you did, you know," Caitlin said. Harry responded with a nod.

"Which it could be the problem," Harry said. He reached towards Caitlin and grabbed her hand. "I have a higher tolerance than most."

"Fair enough," Caitlin said. Harry handed her the bottle and she opened it up. "I must either trust you or be so drunk."

The drink caused Caitlin's mind to clear up a little bit. A mild humming escalated in the back of her head. The young woman threw herself over Harry, with a smile, grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt. Caitlin's lips smashed against Harry's in a passionate kiss when she straddled him.

Harry experienced her hungry lips and eager tongue attacking him. He gripped her by the ass, firmly, to get her attention.

"So, are you still going to carry me up to my bedroom?"

Harry smiled and scooped up Caitlin in his arms. He brought the scientist up the stairs and made her way up to her bedroom.

He pressed her down onto the bed and kissed her with a more intense manner. Caitlin wrapped her arms around Harry's neck, encouraging him to kiss her. Her breasts strained against her shirt. A sultry smile spread over her face.

"I'm ready," Caitlin said. "I need you."

* * *

 ****The brunette smiled and rolled over, pressing herself against Harry's chest. Caitlin snuggled into Harry's chest, using her fingernails to lazily trace patterns around his chest.

"If you're ready to go again, I am too, babe," Caitlin said. She rolled over, but winced. "Okay, give me a few minutes."

"Well, I have a couple of reasons for you to be inspired."

Harry pulled Caitlin on top of him and wrapped his arms around her, kissing the hell out of her. Caitlin returned with greater fighter. The young man really caused Caitlin's motor to get revved once more and she was ready to ride again. **  
**

* * *

Harry Potter returned the next morning, to see if he could go on the hunt. He made sure Caitlin got out of bed and got to work. She had a pretty early shift this morning.

Diana walked out of the shadows, walking towards Harry. The young man looked over his shoulder towards Diana, who responded with a frustrated grimace.

"No, I haven't been able to find him," Diana said. The Amazon Princess walked closer towards Harry, a frown crossing over her face. "Things have been oddly peaceful, especially with Ares."

Harry understood in an instant what happened. Ares, being the God of War, being quiet always worried anyone. The young sorcerer leaned back.

"Merlyn must have lead a false trail," Harry said.

"Well, you had some business in this city, didn't you?" Diana asked. "So, was another added to your pack?"

"Yes, I hoped for Caitlin to be….."

Harry's words faded off when a figure shot out of a vortex at the speed of light. Something almost smacked head long into Harry.

Diana braced herself, trying to arm herself with an arrow. Harry raised his head when he noticed Danica popped out of nowhere, and fell straight into his arms.

"Hey, sorry….I never really get the hang of these landings," Danica said. "But, we've got a serious problem."

"What do you mean a serious problem?" Harry asked.

Danica shook her head, now wasn't the time to forget something. Her gaze launched over towards Diana, mouth wide open.

"Oh my, you're Wonder Woman!" Danica yelled. She nearly stepped back for a moment and looked to be about ready to fangirl out.

Granted, she already met Wonder Woman, but there was a difference between meeting someone now, and meeting someone in their prime. Granted, there was pretty much no time where Wonder Woman wasn't in her prime, but still.

"Wonder Woman?" Diana asked.

"Oh wait, it hasn't happened yet," Danica said. She clapped a hand over her mouth. "Sorry, spoilers!"

Harry cleared his throat, which caused Danica standing high up on her heels.

"Right, sorry, but….WE HAVE TO GET TO STAR LABS, RIGHT NOW!" Danica yelled.

Harry almost was taken off guard by her words. The young man stepped back a couple of inches. Diana looked towards Danica.

"There's no time to explain, I'll explain it when we stop it, there's been a fluctuation in the time stream, it's going to mess up the time stream, and potentially cause some kind of crisis on infinity timelines."

Danica started to speak in a rapid fire fashion, and Harry and Diana restrained her. The Amazon looked torn between amusement and bemusement.

"Could you run it by us one more time?"

* * *

Harrison Wells leaned over the control console, with a long smile crossing over his face. So far everything became on schedule, at least more on schedule than ever before. The sooner this was done, the sooner things could move a lot smoother. He almost thought about taking Harry Potter's offer, but making a deal with someone like Potter also had a backfire to it. History proved as much.

 _'To make a deal with the devil, means the devil always gets out ahead.'_

"Doctor Wells, I've wanted to meet you for sometime…but if I had to hazard a guess, we've already met."

Wells turned around and stared down an imposing man. His mouth opened up when the imposing God of War approached him.

"I'm curious to how you've got past security," Wells said. He looked out of the corner of his eye.

"Your security is rather weak against mortals, never mind against a god," Ares said. Another figure stepped out of the shadows. "And my partner is interested in the little project you're working on behind this door."

Wells made a movement to secure the door, but Ares waved his hand and lifted him about halfway off of the ground. The doctor managed to come face to face with one of the cruelest and most dangerous men in history, Vandal Savage.

"Good evening, Doctor Wells," Savage said. "Or should I saw, Mr. Thawne."

Wells looked at Savage in a calm manner.

"You don't need to tell me my future, I've already known it," Savage said. "And if anything, the world doesn't get stronger. The world degrades from here."

"You are bound to lose, someone always defeats you," Wells said.

"And it means we have a lot in common, wouldn't you say," Savage said. The criminal stepped closer towards Wells, a sadistic smile spreading over his face. "No matter what you do, you'll never be able to take down the Flash, because your existence ties to him. If he goes, your life has no meaning."

Wells didn't even say anything. Ares broke open the door leading to the partially competed Accelerator.

"With me, I take enemies," Savage said. "But they are a passing fancy."

"What are you doing?" Wells asked.

"This isn't time for the Flash, is it? "Savage asked. "If he's never created….well, you're meaningless…and the Flash, no matter what the face, is a premier member of the Justice League. Without a Justice League in the future, I will have achieved my goals."

"You're likely to destroy the world and wipe out all of humanity," Wells said.

"Then, I will start new," Savage said. "Perhaps today, will begin a new big bang."

Ares stepped inside and channeled the power inside the Particle Accelerator. The energy started to manifest around the room.

"You don't know what will happen," Wells said.

"Well, Central City will either perish or be reborn."

Savage sensed a figure approaching at the building at super speed. He eyed Ares and the two of them smiled.

"Not fast enough."

A loud explosion resounded from Ares overloading the Accelerator, his god like powers channeling an explosion which engulfed half of the city.

Everything suddenly went dark.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter Forty-One: The Fallout.**

* * *

Danica never quiet mastered the art of patience as she did her other powers. Something about patience tripped her up and caused her an immense amount of frustration. The woman's mouth dug against her mouth, biting down onto her lips as hard as possible. Even before her powers, she became a reckless wreck, unable to focus in the best of times, along with the worst of times.

The fastest woman alive found herself out of the STAR Labs facility, and she sensed something bad would happen. The flash of light out of the corner of her eye told her the grisly tale of them being too late, much too late.

"We're late, we're much too late!" Danica yelled. She almost freaked out at the top of her lungs. Harry reached over and grabbed her by the arm in response.

"Don't worry, it's never too late," Harry said. He tried to offer her some reassurance by gripping her hand. Danica's gaze hit Harry in a brief instance and she took a long and deep breath to calm her nerves down, even though her nerves were about to collapse into a fit of insanity.

"It's…too late, because it's too early!" Danica yelled. "The Flash shouldn't be this soon…this is way too soon…even beyond the too soon I'm trying to stop, and the Flash isn't in position to be the Flash, and neither are any of the possible alternate candidates. Someone really crashed the timeline now….I feel like time and space is going to be unraveled!"

Harry noticed divine intervention straight away, with energy coursing out of the room. If there hadn't been any kind of divine intervention, Harry might have been able to stop the energy from flowing out, but as it was, it had been stuck.

The Master of Death did have the capabilities to stop it from spreading too far. Harry closed his eyes, channeling the power he could. The backlash of energy hit a wall he created. Only about a tenth of the original output managed to eat through the barrier, with the rest of the energy being absorbed into Harry's body.

Danica wondered if it was wise, or even healthy with Harry absorbing this much energy.

"I'll be fine, just give me a minute."

The fastest woman alive started to wring her hands together, looking extremely stressed. A stolen look off to the side at Harry showed she wasn't the only one who looked stressed.

Harry reached over and noticed the high tech lock to the lab. He hadn't had to ever break into STAR Labs. The lock had shielding against magic of all types. Granted, nothing could completely block magic, but the fact the block existed in the first place threw up a red flag in Harry's mind.

"Here, let me."

Danica's panicked and excited nature caused her to start to fly hands first into the security control console. Someone programmed the security console to change an access code faster than she could find it.

"Impossible, unless someone intimately….oh crash!" Danica yelled.

The speedster almost could have smacked herself hard in the face for being so completely and utterly dense. Obviously, they had an obvious reason why she could not break inside of STAR Labs. Someone made the doors completely and totally Flash proof.

Who would it be? Well Danica's knowledge of the future.

"We need to find Wells, he's the key to all of this."

Harry frowned and looked at the magical lock. It occurred to him in a snap the lock might have been shielded from magic, but the door it held, wasn't.

The young man slammed his hand through the door, vaporizing it into ashes. The lock lingered, but with no door to hold it up, Harry and Danica made their way inside.

Harry quickened his pace, hoping the Particle Accelerator didn't catch anyone inside the lab. The young man's heart sank when he realized Caitlin worked tonight.

 _'Don't know if you quite can kill a god, but I'm going to have fun trying, Ares.'_

The sorcerer tried to make his way down to the scientific lab. Danica gasped when one of the guards stepped forward.

"Stand back!" the guard yelled. The guard raised his finger and began to shoot bullets with his finger.

Danica decided to catch him with a running punch to the gut. The guard doubled over, hitting the ground.

"There will be more," Harry said.

"Right," Danica said. She turned towards Harry and shuddered. "Are we looking at Smallville level infestation here?"

"You mean after the Meteor Shower," Harry said. Danica nodded up and down in response. Harry placed a steady hand on her shoulder and steered her. "Let's hope not."

Harry tried to reach out to Caitlin, but found nothing. He verified enough she had just been knocked unconscious, because Harry would get a different feeling if something else happened.

* * *

Caitlin Snow shuddered for a long moment. She slowly became to unconsciousness. The alarms came off and the next thing they knew, there was a really big boom.

Other the chill coming through her body, Caitlin felt fine, really. Okay, the fatigue happened to be a really bad thing to be honest.

Caitlin placed her hands together, rubbing them, to try and get some traction, but they still felt really cold and really clamming. The scientist brushed a strand of hair away from her face.

Another one of the lab assistants worked with her on the lower floor. Caitlin almost sank to one knee, shuddering in response.

"Jessica?" Caitlin asked. "Jessica?"

No answer, and Caitlin found herself rather worried. The walls of the lab looked oddly warped, like they had been corrupted in some strange way. Caitlin took another half of a step, knees almost collapsing out from underneath her.

Caitlin came across an attractive blonde scientist who laid at the bottom of the stairwell. Jessica Chambers sprawled out at the bottom of the steps, with a gaunt look on her face.

"Jessie, oh my god!" Caitlin yelled.

She almost reached forward to her.

"Don't touch her."

Harrison Wells crawled down the steps, bleeding severely. It looked like he had been stabbed several times in the side.

"What happened?" Caitlin asked.

"Terrorists," Wells said. The cuts slowly healed, but a divine attack proved to be a bother with his powers. They had a serious problem now, nothing every happened. "They stormed the lab and took everything, there was nothing I could do to stop them….and I fear the entire city is in danger."

He never wanted it to happen this way. Wells wanted it to happen in a controlled process.

"She's not moving, but her heart rate has sped up," Caitlin said. She started to shudder for an extent. "I don't understand, why I'm so cold and I'm getting colder by the second."

"It's curious why you could be cold," Wells said. Sweat dripped down his face when he tried to adjust himself on his footing. The caveman broke one of his legs, in an attempt to hold him. "The explosion has generated an immense amount of heat."

"How?" Caitlin asked.

Never the less, a sound of footsteps echoed from beyond the lab. Caitlin opened her mouth to shout out to someone, only for Wells to put a hand down. Wells slunk down the steps and threw himself underneath the stairs. Caitlin dragged Jessica underneath the steps.

"Make sure you gather them all up…anyone with powers, our boss wants them. Anyone who doesn't have powers, shoot them on sight."

Caitlin's mouth hung open for a moment. Did she have powers because of this accident? The scientist shifted her gaze over towards one side, to try and catch the eye of Harrison Wells. Wells didn't even respond, didn't even blink for a fraction of a second. He left Caitlin hanging.

So cold, so cold, and Caitlin wanted to scream in frustration. It was hard to breath with her lungs being weighed down like this.

"There's something stirring underneath the steps!" one of the mercenaries yelled. The other two near him pointed the guns forward. "Come out, and don't make any sudden movements….we have you surrounded!"

Caitlin decided to stagger out, being the only one out of the three in sound mind. The scientist looked at the dangerous looking mercenaries with pleading eyes.

"Please, they're hurt, they don't know…they don't know," Caitlin said. She struggled to draw in breath. Her hands grew even more clammy.

"If they're hurt, they don't have any powers," one of the mercenaries said. "The question is, do you? Let's find out!"

One of the mercenaries, a trigger happy fellow, fired a bullet at Caitlin' .Caitlin screamed, raising her hands in defense. The bullet cascaded through the air towards her. The woman stopped it, freezing the bullet pretty much in place. Caitlin watched the bullet fall onto the ground, shattering into ice.

"Well, we have a winner here," one of the mercenaries yelled. They pointed the guns out.

"Stay away from me!" Caitlin yelled.

She reached towards them, wrapping her hands around the throat of the mercenary, and strangled him. The heat rose from his body, into hers! Caitlin's eyes glowed with white madness. His body fell to the ground, experiencing an immense state of hypothermia!"

"You made the wrong move fre….."

Two energy blades impaled the other two mercenaries in the back. The mercenaries landed onto the ground, being ripped apart.

Caitlin stood across from Harry, mouth hanging open. Shock didn't even begin to cover what the brainy brunette experienced. After sucking all of the body heat from the mercenary, she didn't feel cold. She felt rather refreshed and the fact terrified her.

She rushed towards Harry, throwing her arms around him in relief. Harry wrapped his arms around her.

Caitlin didn't want to even ask any questions about the energy daggers, she was too shell-shocked regarding her own powers.

"We need to move, there are more on this floor."

* * *

Diana made her way through Central City. Harry ran off with the Flash, and she hoped she could catch a retreating Ares. The Amazon Princess stepped forward, a headset firmly tuned into the Central City news feed, when she continued her treks through the city.

"We encourage all of the population to stay away from STAR Labs. An explosion of an unknown origin occurred, and our latest report out indicates anyone who gets near will be infected by the fallout."

Diana quickened her footsteps and made her way over to the lab. She noticed the front entrance and the ashes which had been already created. She smiled, noticing Harry's handiwork straight away. Drawing her crossbow, Diana hoped she could run into Ares.

Ares proved to be a slippery devil, hence the reason why Diana was given this test and the Amazon ensured she could prove herself. Being the heir to the throne of the Amazons, Diana always hoped to live up to her mother, and much to her frustration, fell extremely short.

The Amazon Princess stood in the hallway and turned the corner. Diana crept into the shadows, knowing another duo of the God of War's chosen mercenaries. One of them paced back and forth like a caged animal, looking extremely annoyed for some reason.

"I don't like this….they should have been back…the boss doesn't like people being late."

Diana made her movement, and caught one of the goons with a forearm to the back of the head. She grabbed him in a waistlock and took him on the express train to suplex city.

The other mercenary tried to nail Diana with a dagger. Diana blocked the dagger and grabbed one of the goons from behind. She forced him to his knees and slung him into the wall. On the back swing, Diana bound him in the lasso.

The mercenary struggled against the grip of his adversary's magic lasso. The Amazon Princess stared him down.

"What is Ares up to?"

The mercenary's instincts told him to tell the bitch to go fuck off, but something else compelled him to speak. He hated it and didn't want to acknowledge the fact she had a really tight grip on him. The Amazon Princess yanked him up to a standing position.

Diana realized the man had some kind of mystical protection against being forced to tell the truth in the lasso of truth.

"Tell me, what is Ares up to?"

The force of will Diana exhibited force the man in question to shudder in response.

"Ares….him and Vandal Savage…they caused the Particle Accelerator thing to explode….they're trying to create an army of super powered freaks…to spread fear and terror."

The name Vandal Savage sounded familiar to Diana and not for the best reasons of all. The Amazon Princess realized she had a captive in her grip. The man's face strained and it caused him greater pain to tell the truth than normal. It could be by design, or it could be because of his own stubborn nature.

"To what end?" Diana asked.

The man's heart started to speed up. Some force almost started to clutch his heart. Diana turned around and noticed a figure standing in the shadows, glowing with a type of strange energy.

"Come out!"

The man collapsed to death and the man down the shadows lead Diana down the hallway. The Amazon looked from one side or the other, fully expecting a trap of some sort.

Diana experienced a strange kind of energy. Her own mystical energies protected her from the worst of it.

A figure rushed her from the shadows and slammed Diana hard against the wall. The Amazon Princess struggled and forced him back. The Amazon Princess drilled him with a series of punches, causing him to drop down to the ground.

The goon rose his hand, his hand glowing purple.

You feel different from the others….."

A figure rushed towards the enemy before he could grab onto Diana's heart. The scarlet speedster shoved the figure against the wall, rendering him completely unconscious.

"What is it about super powers which make half of the people who receive them lose all sense of humanity?" Danica asked. She closed her eyes and felt something. "No, I feel it….no…he's….he's been effected?"

"Who is he?"

"Hello, Princess."

Diana turned her head around and noticed Vandal Savage standing at the end of the hallway. Danica raised her eyebrow.

"Well, the Flash of the 31st century," Vandal Savage said. "My future counterpart hoped you would be wiped out when the Particle Accelerator would be demolished. But I guess we can't fight our fate completely."

Two more super powered men stepped forward. One of them looked to be in agonizing pain.

"I can give you a cure to your condition," Savage said. He pointed a gnarled finger towards the two heroines. "Destroy them, and I'll give you the help you need."

Diana and Danica stood face to face with the two desperate men.

"Sorry, I didn't….I didn't want it to end this way," the man said. Several razor sharp daggers emitted from his knuckles. "But, it's either you two or me."

"There's another way."

* * *

Adeline escorted a group of ARGUS agents into the building. Her boss wanted the scene in Central City to be investigated. The random energy spike a couple of months ago caught ARGUS's attention. And Adeline jumped on the mission, glad to take a couple of days away from keeping an eye on her charge.

The creepy scene around them made Adeline almost regret leaving her comfortable post. The ARGUS agents lifted their weapons.

"Stay sharp," Adeline said.

The four agents made their way in. A tendril appeared from the shadows and wrapped around the chest of one of the agents, before pulling the figure into the shadows.

"FIRE!"

The ARGUS agents propelled a line of fire towards the tendril monster. Flashes of green light continued to manifest in the scene. Adeline lost another ARGUS agent when he was pulled into the fire, with the shadow matter wrapped around him.

A figure appeared from the shadows and slammed a fist into the dark shadowed figure. A pair of hands pulled yanked a pale looking man out of the shadows, which they retracted inside of them.

"Please, stop."

"Your time has come."

Harry decided to scan him. He kept drawing shadows into his body and manipulating them in an extremely horrific way. The shadows drew into him in an attempt to ease the pain. The Master of Death raised his hand and plunged it through the man's chest.

"Thank you."

The man's withered boy dropped down to the ground. The man's body started to shake and twitch, before the life lead his body.

"Glad to see you were close by," Adeline said. "Lost four of my best men in there…..guess they weren't as good as I thought."

Caitlin half dragged Jessica around the hallway, with the woman lapsing into a state of unconsciousness.

"Don't worry, we're here to help," Adeline said. She managed to reach into her coat and pulled out a huge hand cannon. "Don't worry, I've brought the big guns today."

"You're going to need it with what we're going up against," Harry said.

"We've got two more!"

Danica rushed out of the scene and dropped two of the super powered goons down on the ground.

"Diana's down the hallway, she thinks Ares is still somewhere in the building," Danica said. Harry raised an eyebrow. "She's determined."

"One might say determined," Harry said. "Help, Adeline look after them…..did you find Wells?"

Danica's head whiplashed from one side to the next. She realized something right now, but the fact half of the building had received super powers and half of them had been killed or other wise maimed, caught her off guard.

"He can't be allowed to leave," Danica said. "He's the one I came after."

"You didn't know?" Harry asked.

"I just remembered, he traveled through time, and already altered it by the time I got here," Danica said. "Thawne, I mean…well technically he's Wells, wearing his face and his identity….it's complicated, and I really don't…."

"Wells won't be able to leave the premises, there are more ARGUS agents on the premise," Adeline said. She didn't ask any questions about what was happening on.

* * *

Eobard Thawne, better known as Harrison Wells to the people in this timeline, found his wounds mostly healing. A new burst of speed spread through him, signaling there had been a Flash created, perhaps multiple Flashes. The speed force had been changed and corrupted.

Wells noticed someone calling around the corner. The scientist staggered and slumped against the wall. The freshly created wounds still laid on his body.

"You can come around the corner….I know you're there….and I mean you know harm…because I need your help."

A figure crept around the corner. Wells stared at the woman in question and frowned.

"Well, this is curious….I don't recall you," Wells said.

"After your time," Flash said.

"After your time?" Wells asked. The man's heart started to speed up. "It means the Flash's legacy continued long after the death of the original Scarlet Speedster.

"Yes," Flash said. "And we both know who it is."

"No need to say anything, for causing any further corruption in the timeline," Thawne said. "But, I never expected a divine intervention. I knew what Vandal Savage was…..I've worked with him in another life….in the distant future. Time hasn't softened him at all, but he can't die."

"Death claims everyone," Flash said. "Just like I've come to bring you back."

"Nothing you do will do any good," Thawne said. "The future has changed already, you have nothing to go back for. There might be a Flash, but it isn't the Flash Central City needs. And with the legacy perishing….there isn't much time."

Thawne started to shake violently. The man's seizure increased more and more. He looked a few moments away from ripping himself apart.

Danica hesitated, looking down at the face of agony of her adversary. Something about the horrified expression caused her to want to help him, but she remembered what Thawne was capable of.

"HELP!"

Caitlin's screamed caused Danica to turn her attention away from Thawne for the briefest of moments. He bounced off the wall and sucker punched her in the face, knocking her down.

"Sorry, not fast enough, Flash."

Thawne experienced his powers slowly returning. There wasn't just one Flash to draw off, it was several. Ares and Savage thought they could stop him.

Danica woke up, in time to see Caitlin bend over her. The fist print of Thawne's hand on her face caused everything to slowly come back to her. Danica ran her fingernail over her cheek, stroking it and frowning deeply.

"What happened?" Caitlin asked.

"Thawne happened…he can't escape, if he escapes….if he finds the Flash…if the Flash even…but he just can't!"

He went from on the edge of death to revived, but Danica realized he leached off a bit of her speed force, just enough to heal the injuries. She had Thawne dead to rights and failed to grab him. He slipped right through her fingers.

And now he was on the hunt for anyone who received Flash powers and given they recently received them, he would be in danger. He could kill them, or worse, use them as a power battery to restore his own powers and return through time, at any point in time.

 _'He won't.'_

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter Forty-Two: End of Days:**

* * *

 ****Diana could not be for certain where she lost track of Ares. The Amazon Princess prided herself on being the best at what she did in battle. The fact Ares slipped through the cracks after being so close made Diana's ego take a huge hit. The Amazon bit down on her lip and looked around the corner. No one stood down the barren hallway, not Ares, not Vandal Savage, not even one of the poorly infected meta-humans who were bombarded with the energy from the Particle Accelerator.

Regardless, Diana pressed on, remembering Ares never was too far away. Always a chance he would pop around the corner and attack her when Diana least expected. The Amazon's skin crawled with the thought of what Ares might do if he popped around the corner to attack her. Diana refused to let Ares get to her. If he wanted to come for her, then let him come for her, Diana would be ready.

Something came around the corner. Diana looked around the corner, and jumped on in, grabbing the figure around the waist.

"Whoa, Diana, it's just me!"

Diana relaxed her grip around Danica's arm and caused her to fall back against the edge of the wall. The Fastest Woman Alive looked at her.

"Guess, you didn't find Ares," Danica said.

"No," Diana said. "Any luck with this Reverse-Flash."

Danica hung her head, a frown passing her face. An ashamed look also flickered through her eyes underneath the mask.

"No, I've made a rookie mistake….a really bad rookie mistake. I swear, I don't think I made this bad of a mistake since the first year where I picked up my speed. Thawne, Wells, the Reverse-Flash, the guy has so many names, but…he got away."

Danica reached up, feeling her hand, frowning in response. She rushed around the hallways back and forth.

"Oh please, please, tell me I just dropped it!"

Diana watched the progress of Danica rushing back and forth down the hallway. The Amazon Princess tried not to become impatient at what she was doing, but the more she watched the woman rush back and forth, the more agitated Diana became. The blur going back and forth, overturning everything in the hallway caused Diana to have a headache.

With her lasso, Diana tripped up the Flash, causing her to fly head first into the wall. Danica bounced up to her feet and Diana braced herself for some kind of conflict, but it needed to be done.

"Thanks I needed that."

Diana blinked, but somehow, someway, the Amazon Princess recovered her bearings to ask the Scarlet Speedster an extremely important question.

"Do you think you can tell me what you running around like a Cerabus with two heads was all about?" Diana asked.

"Well, there's a couple of problems here," Danica said. She placed her hand on the top of her head, but stopped, remembering how stupid it made her look. "For one, Thawne not only got away, but he may have taken my Legion Ring….I can't return back to the future without it."

"There's no way you can travel back to the future with it?" Diana asked.

"Well, someone could track me back here and take me back home," Danica said. She pushed her mask back. "But, past, present, and future need to become perfectly aligned to create a stable time tunnel, and it's a lot easier to travel forward, than it is to travel back….when you go backwards through time, you're literally going backwards through time."

Diana, not knowing the first thing about time travel, just nodded. Despite all of the fantastic things the Amazon Princess encountered, time travel happened to be a slight bit outside of comfort zone.

Danica, understanding the discomfort most people had towards time travel, reached towards Diana and smiled.

"I know it's difficult to understand," Danica said in a gentle voice. "I have my troubles trying to figure out the ins and the outs around time travel, and it can be a royal pain to just try and figure out everything about it."

Danica managed to slow her words down. Another bad habit she had to work on, speaking at the speed of light, to the point where she tripped over her words. Which she did in her thoughts a lot, with the fragments and the run on sentences and the misdirection. Super speed happened to be a right bitch sometimes especially when her thoughts get together.

"We have another problem, and I don't mean some really bad people running around unchecked," Danica said. "At least one person received speed powers, maybe multiple, but at least one, and it isn't the person…so we're living in some kind of alternate timeline."

Diana thought she heard something up the stairwell. She stopped and nodded at Adeline, the ARGUS agent who worked as a double agent for Harry.

"So, I really need to get the ring back before Thawne figures out how he works, and he will figure out how it works, and he can travel to any point in time."

Danica trailed off after some footsteps approached them, and they had a sense they were not alone, and not in a good way either.

* * *

Ares watched the Amazon Princess's pursuit of him, in amusement. She continued to hunt him, but Ares stood close enough to her, before pulling away. It was much like leading on a mouse against a string. Ares held no ill-will towards the Amazons, well, other than their peace loving ways. Those sickened the god of war.

Five gentlemen stood around Ares. He waved his hands around their bodies, checking them over.

"You have been given gifts," Ares said. "I want you to eliminate the Amazon Princess and anyone else who stands in your way….and you will have a spot in my new world, once Central City goes down in ruins."

"What do you have against Central City?" one of the meta-humans asked.

"The city is much too vibrant and untainted, never known war," Ares said. "Humanity wilts, weakens, without being tested by war."

"You really do have a thing for war, don't you?" one of the meta-humans asked. The man looked at this larger than life figure.

The man's burning gaze locked onto them, causing them to wonder if they all bit off more than they could chew. All of them stepped back for a half of an inch, feeling the slightest bit intimidated by the man. They might have had these new powers, but they were confused of them. And they could barely control those powers, so it wasn't like they could use them.

"Let me make one thing perfectly clear. I'm not just fond of war….I am war, and you will all bow down in respect for me!"

The bellowing tone coming from the gentlemen in front of him prompted a shivering of terror to spread through the bodies of the people in front of him.

Ares looked them over, not blinking them.

"If you're strong, you have a place in my new world. If you're weak, then there's no place for you. War has it's own way of weeding out the weak!"

Ares's booming voice caused them all to stand up straight.

"Central City, Starling City, and pretty much any other city I wish will be ravaged by war!" Ares continued in his most bold tone of voice. "And all of you will be the first members of my super powered army. It will be your way to repay the debt from the gifts I've given you!"

One of the men stood up straight, looking far more bold and brave than someone of his status should be. He leaned in and stared Ares straight in the eye.

"What makes you think we want to be grateful for you?" the man asked. "None of us asked to be turned into freaks. None of us wanted any of this, and now you're going to force us to become your puppets, in a snap! You must be mad!"

"I'm not mad," Ares said. He leaned closer towards the new meta-human. "I see power is wasted on those with weak minds…time to prune back a few weeds, and a few more mistakes."

Ares reached towards the man and plunged his hand through the man's chest. The man gasped when Ares pushed his hand deeper into the man's chest. The man's heart tightened and his breathing became more ragged the further the God of War pushed his killing blow into the man. The man started to breath heavily.

The man drained the energy from him and held it in the palm of his hand. A ball of energy erupted from his fingers and it passed into the air.

"Do any of you have any further objections?"

"No, sir, of course not sir."

The words these gentlemen said caused Ares's mouth to curl into a brilliant smile. He sensed their fear and also their determination to please.

"Good, let's begin the hunt, for she approaches."

* * *

Danica wondered how hard it should be to find a fellow speedster. The fact hit her extremely hard. The speedster in question didn't want to be found.

She made her way to the edge of a door and it had been locked. Curious it had been locked because no other door in this building had been locked.

"I doubled around, there's no one around," Diana said.

"At least no one I can see," Danica said. She started to aim her hands at the edge of the door and punched in a series of numbers. The door blinked around her, but the more Danica punched in, the harder it was to get the door open.

Diana wondered if they were wasting their time trying to break through the door in a conventional way.

"Stand aside."

Diana prepared to punch the door open. The Amazon never had a chance to break the door down when it swung open. A large burly man rushed towards Diana and hoisted her off of the guard, before flinging her at the wall. His hands glowed with an amazing amount of purple energy.

The Amazon Princess winced as she nursed a bruised wrist.

"I'm going to turn you into clay!" the man yelled.

The man tried to smash Diana into paste, or clay, rather, but the Flash nailed him with a super powered punch to the back.

Another meta-human wearing thick bone armor turned up and flung the razor sharp bone spurs at Diana and Danica. The two women dodged the attack.

"Enough!" Diana yelled.

The Amazon's expression looked extremely intense and she rushed towards the enemy, but another one extended her fingernails into long whips. The whips slashed against Diana's chest.

"We've been promised a spot in the new world!" the woman said in a very bad Jersey accent. "And we're going to take the princess…and the Flash down as well."

Danica looked out of the corner of her eye and saw a blur rush into the battle off to the side.

"Supergirl?" Danica asked. She paused and shook her head. "Oh wait, not yet."

The large blurry man threw purple energy at the blur. The blur circled around him, forcing him to fire off energy at an accelerated rate.

Danica noticed the man needed a few seconds to recharge, his skin became raw red.

"Hey, Tiny!" Flash yelled. "Betcha can't hit me!"

The goon tried to nail her with a concussive blast of energy, but Danica dodged out of the way.

"Too bad, so slow, come on, surely you can do better than that!" Danica yelled. She kept dodging his attacks.

The man started to breath heavy, his lungs experienced a burning sensation. Just in time for Kara to come down and curb stomp him into the ground.

"Stand still!" the woman with the fingernail whips said, flipping them into the air. Kara dodged the razor sharp finger nail whips.

"What if I don't want too?" Kara asked. She flashed a nice little smile at her adversary. "Come on!"

Kara knew exactly what she wanted to do. She lured her adversary into a rather skilled trap. The adversary whipped her nail whips towards the Girl of Steel. Dodging the attacks, Kara circled around them. She stared over her shoulder, barely keeping a rather prominent smirk off of her lips. Kara dipped down, going to the right side, to avoid the attack. The nails came inches away from taking her out!

With one swift movement, Kara tangled the nails, causing the woman to fly down onto the ground. The woman tripped over her own overlong nails.

With one flip of her wrist, Kara put the deranged meta-human into the wall.

"And this is why you should get a manicure."

Diana fought the bone spur meta-human. The bones hurled with an overarching throw at the Amazon Princess. She arched her back, and dodged underneath the bone spurs. The bones struck the side of the wall, forcing Dian to run around her adversary and connect with a series of rapid fire attacks, including some vicious stinging jabs.

The Amazon wished she could get a better shot. It turned out she didn't need to, because the Flash punched the bone spur mutant at super speed, and caused his armor to crack, allowing Diana to flip him to the ground, knocking him out with one swift move.

"You will pay!"

Diana looked over her shoulder, noticing Ares standing before her. He rushed towards Diana and punched her hard in the face.

The Amazon slid back to the ground.

"Your creed of peace sickens me!" Ares yelled.

Diana blasted a barrage of arrows at her adversary, but Ares deflected them all.

"Your war and destruction disturbs me," Diana said. She withdrew the sword at the same time Ares withdrew his. "I guess it makes us even."

"Not until you lie broken and beaten at my feet, Amazon!"

Diana and Ares locked horns in an intense battle. The two of them pushed back with each other, with Diana managing to slide underneath the legs of the god of war.

Ares spun around and blocked Diana's attack. Sweat rolled down the face of the Amazon and the two clung together sword by sword again. Both of them pushed back against each other.

Danica and Kara made sure no one intervened, but both girls looked awestruck.

"So, should we get involved?" Kara asked.

Danica shook her head and noticed Diana grabbing Ares around the head, before spiking him down across the ground. Ares rose to his knees, sword in hand.

Swinging her sword with a feral expression of anger in her eyes, Diana disarmed Ares, almost literally. Had he not been a god, Diana would have ripped his arm off.

"You beat me in battle, but the war continues," Ares said. He rose up to his feet and prepared to open a portal.

A light of energy appeared around him and Harry appeared around him.

"So the Herald of Death prevents himself," Ares said. "You cannot destroy a god."

Harry chuckled in response.

"I can't kill you Ares, and war is one of life's ugly necessities…so there will always be a place for you…no matter what time, no matter what place."

Ares nodded, glad to see he saw things his way.

"And I'm no mere Herald for Death, but rather, I'm Death's master," Harry said. He approached Ares, a powerful glow emitting from his eyes. "Which gives me a great deal of latitude in dealing with people like you."

Ares found himself engulfed in a portal.

"I will return, you can't seal me away forever!" Ares yelled.

"No intention of doing so," Harry said. "But, every time you will return, I will beat you again and again….because war has a way of weeding out the weak. And you're not strong."

A flash of light emitted from Harry's hands and caused Ares to be drawn into the vortex. The tormented souls of those who Ares killed in his schemes waited to keep the God of War company on the other end of the vortex.

"And this is why I'm glad you're not pissed off at me," Danica said.

Kara and Diana nodded in agreement, they would have to agree.

* * *

Caitlin sat outside of the building, watch most of the people hauled off elsewhere. Jessica in particular looked rather bad off. Some of them didn't make it out of the building.

Yet, here she was. Caitlin stood outside, waiting to be herded off towards a government facility, to be checked out.

She drained the man's body heat and killed him, turning him into little more than an icicle. The thought troubled Caitlin a lot of the time.

"Doctor Snow?"

"No, not quite yet, not for a couple more months likely," Caitlin said. She paused and looked at the woman approaching her. "Well, I was going to be one in a couple more months, but now, I don't know."

"My name is Adeline Kane, I work for ARGUS…we're a faction of the government," Adeline said. "We understand you were inside STAR labs, close by the Particle Accelerator when it blew up."

"Yes, I…was in the freezer, moving some specimens, they needed to be kept on ice," Caitlin said. Her hands rubbed together.

Middle of summer, yet she was a little bit cold again.

"Doctor Potter vouched for you and said I'm to personally escort you and Doctor Chambers to Shining Light Enterprises, where you will be tested," Adeline said. "The others…will be left under the care of ARGUS."

Caitlin didn't want to question what happened too much. She didn't want to question not being locked up as some lab rat.

"Won't you get in trouble if…."

"Worry about yourself, Caitlin," Adeline said. "You don't mind if I call you, Caitlin?"

"You're with Harry, aren't you?" Caitlin asked.

"I owe Harry a lot, so always," Adeline said. She leaned towards Caitlin with a smile. "He saved my daughter's life….he didn't have to, but he did."

Diana walked out to join them.

"Ares is done….Savage is still at large, and as for Thawne….Danica and Harry are looking for Thawne," Diana said. "You don't mind if I back you up?"

Adeline laughed and responded with a smile.

"I could do far worse of an escort than the Princess of Themyscira."

Caitlin blinked, it took a couple of moments for her to realize she had been in the presence of royalty all night and really didn't know. Of course, the scientific prodigy looked to have far more pressing concerns than this, but she still had one thing to think.

 _'Cool'  
_

* * *

Eobard Thawne realized for the longest amount of time, he wore the mask of Harrison Wells, he almost became the man himself. Thawne almost forgot who he was.

Time didn't collapse in on itself and wipe him out, which was a good sign. He knew if he returned to his own time, he would vanish.

In the palm of his hand, Thawne carried one of the more sophisticated items he ever came across. At first, he looked to be some kind of vanity, perhaps another Flash ring. Upon another glance, Thawne realized what he had in the palm of his hands.

More than some kind of vanity which carried the Flash costume, it looked to be a means for him to travel to any point in Earth. Small, efficient, and more powerful.

 _'Whoever said bigger is better is wrong. The smaller, the better, the more efficient.'_

Thanks to the interjection's tonight, Thawne's plan to return home had been destroyed. However, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

"Okay, Thawne, the game is up."

Thawne turned around and noticed the Flash standing there.

"Out of all of the Flashes I've fought throughout time….you might have the best toys," Thawne said. He rotated the ring in his hand and slipped it on. "A time travel device, easily in hand."

"You really don't know what you're getting yourself into, don't you?"

Thawne noticed another figure show up, although he looked unsurprised.

"Ah yes, Harry Potter," Thawne said. "You always were a worthy adversary. With the Flash, it was personal. With you, it's a challenge….to keep my mind sharp. But….I have no reason to fight you….I just want to be any place but here…..I think my time in this particular timeline is going to run out."

Thawne activated the ring, creating an energy field which blocked Harry and Danica from following him. He slipped into the worm hole!

"And there goes the dangerous super villain, with my only ticket home!" Danica yelled. She turned towards Harry, who watched the vortex closed. "Why are you so calm?"

"Danica, who invented the Legion rings?" Harry asked.

Danica raised her eyebrow. The time line had been crashed all to hell, so she supposed it wouldn't hurt any more, but at the same time, it could.

"It was me, wasn't it?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Danica said. "Or you will…about eight hundred or so years from now….give or take…the records were destroyed a long time before it…but we pieced together enough…why are you smiling?"

Danica watched Harry's lips curl into sadistic smile.

"Run, Eobard, run," Harry said. "I'm a patient man, I can wait."

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter Forty-Three: Fade Out.  
**

* * *

Adeline paced back and forth over the sidewalk. To an outside observer, it looked like the government agent merely walked over the sidewalk. To a person who knew what was going on, Adeline tried to signal for someone. The woman kept circling around the sidewalk, looking rather intense in her efforts.

Seconds later, her signaling paid off. Harry Potter approached out of the shadows. He extended one hand and Adeline took it. The shadows engulfed both of them, teleporting them into the right location, where they wouldn't have been disturbed. The two dropped down on a rock. Looking over her shoulder, Adeline noticed the never ending pitch black scene around her. No matter how many times Harry escorted her to this location, she never grew quite accustomed of this place.

"Still not used to it?" Harry asked. Adeline responded by shaking her head. "We didn't need to be….well we didn't need to be disturbed."

Adeline knew by now not to ask any questions, especially ones she didn't really want to know the answers to. Harry described the realm as being everywhere at once, but at the same time, being nowhere at all. The thought caused confusion with Adeline, but she just decided to role with it.

"So, are they all where they should be?" Harry asked.

"Yes, my team is escorting Caitlin back to SLE, as requested," Adeline said. "What do you think happened to her?"

"Well, I think it's pretty obvious," Harry said. The young man reached back and stretched his arms. "She was gifted with powers….of course, some of these people came across their powers fairly unnaturally. Hence the freakout and the madness, and some of them trying to kill anyone who stepped in their way."

Adeline hung her head. She realized the dangers of people with powers, but understood there were some people with good powers.

"She'll be fine, if she receives what she wants," Harry said. "She needs to absorb the body heat off of other people….but she can't control it, not yet."

Adeline nodded and leaned in closer to Harry.

"But, I'm sure you're going to find a way to have her get the control," Adeline said. "I did have to call some favors to prevent her from getting locked up."

"Well, if your boss has any problems with what I'm doing," Harry said. He leaned closer towards Adeline and a smile cropped up over his face. "She can talk to me."

Adeline shuddered, and wondered if such a conversation would be a good idea. She wanted to really be a fly on the wall.

"This might file under the area of not asking questions you might not like the answers to," Adeline said. Harry smiled and nodded, giving her the opening to continue asking her question. "But, what exactly was going on with Harrison Wells, or is his name Thawne….it never was clear?"

"Well, there was a man named Thawne who killed the original Harrison Wells and assumed his identity," Harry said. "Displaced time traveler…..came back in time to kill the Flash, but got stranded along the way and was forced to help the Flash become the Flash."

Adeline responded with a nod, there was a part of her who didn't get where Harry was going with this line of thought, but a part of her almost understood where this went. Her head swam because of the insanity of it all.

"Yes, I know, it's almost complicated," Harry said. "But, compared to my life, it's very simple."

"Which isn't saying too much," Adeline said. She closed her eyes. "So, what happened to Thawne?"

"He stole the Flash's time travel ring and went back through a worm hole through time," Harry said. "Thus stranding the Flash here in the past."

Adeline looked for any signs of discontent or discomfort coming from Harry, but much to her surprise, none come.

"You seem oddly calm and collected about this," Adeline said.

"Of course, I do," Harry said. "I'm a patient man, and I'm willing to wait a long time to get what I want. Why would I chase someone when the person will come to me, eventually?"

Adeline wondered what Harry implied, but shook her head. Best not read too much into things.

"Mr. Thawne thinks he's gotten the better of me," Harry said. He smiled when he looked at Adeline. "I don't think he knows what he's completely getting into."

Adeline consulted something else.

"We're also keeping an eye on anyone who has been thrown into a coma because of this….and we have a few candidates," Adeline said. She held a list.

"Well, sometimes a coma really is a coma," Harry said.

And sometimes, a coma happened to be a harbinger to super powers. How the person chose to react to those super powers tended to be a crapshoot lottery at best.

"No time has passed, so I can return you at any time," Harry said. "But I'm sure you want to conclude your investigation, and the fun bit of paperwork which follows."

Adeline smiled and almost cursed Harry for reminding her of the worst part of a frustrating job. The mounds of paperwork which followed pretty much every single mission.

* * *

Felicity leaned over the screen, chewing up a pen cap. The tech girl looked deep in thought of the satellite display. A figure stepped closer towards her, almost causing her to jump ten feet in the air.

"So, what do you think?"

"I think you get off on giving women heart failure," Felicity said. She looked to be deep in thought.

"I mean about the satellites," Harry said.

"I don't know how you got them up into the sky without anyone really noticing," Felicity said. Harry opened his mouth, but Felicity lifted up one hand. "And I swear, if you say magic, I'm going to be very mad at you."

"I was very creative," Harry said. "If certain people of interest use anything electronic, I'll know, and I'll be able to pinpoint them…well in theory at least."

"Well, this could be dangerous, I mean having this much power," Felicity said. "And with great power….comes something, I'm not sure what, but I'm sure it doesn't always end well."

Harry responded with a smile, it was really the problem. Magic could do so many wonderful things, and technology happened to be about the same thing. Despite the wonderful things both magic and technology could do, it could equal out the amount of extremely horrible things.

"Well, it isn't like we're looking over a private citizen's private e-mail conversation," Harry said.

"Right, leave that to the NSA," Felicity said. "But, seriously, you could really…be dangerous with this technology."

"Yes, but if I need to tap into the satellites, I have them up there," Harry said. "And if I have them up there….I won't."

Harry trailed off. Two of the people he tracked down looked to be off of the grid. Savage would be crafty enough not to use any technology. Judging by Harry's intelligence on Savage, while the man knew about the technology, he didn't completely rely on it.

As for Merlyn, well Merlyn resulted in another kettle of fish.

"It's been a long night," Felicity said. "But, I'm sure you're used to long nights…and I swear, it sounded a bit cleaner in my head."

"I wouldn't have noticed if you didn't point out the double meaning," Harry said.

Felicity turned her head away and made her way over towards the elevator. The elevator doors opened and Harry's bodyguard stepped inside, almost brushing past her.

For a brief second, Felicity almost swore the woman pinched her ass, but she realized, she just caught herself against something.

 _'Have to get some sleep…it's been a long night.'_

"See you in the morning, Felicity….we'll go over a few things in detail, in my office."

Felicity's mind entered a rather dodgy place, but she shook her head to clear her mind. She must not think along these lines all of the time. Spending way too much time on the Internet could be hazardous to a person's health and also hazardous to any potential clean thoughts they would have.

Sara watched the young woman leave, watching her ass as she moved.

"You're rather slick, you know," Harry said.

"I don't know what you mean," Sara said. "She didn't….I couldn't help myself."

"Well don't worry, I'll have her in my office tomorrow," Harry said. "I think we've teased her enough to be able to seal the deal."

"You mean you've teased her often enough," Sara said. She gave Harry a teasing little smile, but Harry leaned in and kissed her on the lips.

Sara pushed back, looking to be in a slight daze from her.

"You're the one who wants to keep her as a pet," Harry said.

"Oh come on, train her, maybe get a leash…she looks like the loyal type," Sara said. She situated herself on Harry's lap. "Did you tell her what the satellites really are for?"

"Well, I'll break the news to her," Harry said. "I told her some things, while other things, I left to her imagination."

Sara tried not to smile too wildly. Imagination wasn't something Felicity had trouble with, not at all.

"Diana is going to oversee Ares being returned," Harry said. "I stuck him in a place where he could cool off and realize he took one step too far."

"Ah, I was hoping Diana would stick around," Sara said. Harry squeezed her ass firmly, turning her around. Sara crossed her legs, smiling when she looked at Harry on the chair. "So, Merlyn wasn't in Central City."

"Unfortunately, not," Harry said. "I'd almost say he's worthy, but he's no more than a cockroach to me. Scurrying underneath the biggest rock he can find."

Sara frowned, cupping her hand underneath Harry's face.

"Cassandra wants to be the one who makes him pay," Sara said. She looked at Harry. "But there's a pretty big line forming around the block."

"Yes, I know," Harry said.

Merlyn did him a favor by putting several rather important assets in front of him. Harry did some digging and found something rather curious regarding Merlyn, or rather one of Harry's proteges.

Regardless, his undertaking wouldn't happen. Harry would bury Merlyn underneath his own plans.

* * *

Vandal Savage found himself to be a practical man who always decided to make decisions on the back of both logic and reasoning. His partnership with Ares worked to an extent.

Savage realized despite his best intentions, the Flash rose, one of the corner stones of the Justice League. One potential Flash candidate in the very least received Speed Force powers, if not multiple candidates. And Harry Potter knew Savage would target them.

The man continued his search in Morgan Edge's abandoned facility. The place already had been combed over by Starling City's finest, but Savage thought it wouldn't really hurt to comb over the facility. The man placed his hand on the side of the door and tried to open the door up, but the door jammed for him.

A door which couldn't open made Savage very excited. Something of value was in this room. Savage stepped back and ran his shoulder into the door. The door burst open and the man stepped into the room.

In a silver box, rested a ring with unique carvings on it. Savage scoffed as the late Morgan Edge stored the ring rather casually.

"Step away from the ring."

Savage turned his attention to the figure in the shadows.

"The Dark Archer….and here I thought you would have been defeated by now."

"I've laid a trail of false information to send the dragon on a wild goose chase," the Archer said. The figure lifted up the bow.

"Do it, and I'll be breathing after a few moments of discomfort," Savage said.

The Dark Archer nailed Savage wrist first to the wall with an arrow. Savage howled in agony, when the arrow impaled into his wrist.

"I know you'll survive. I'm counting on it."

The Dark Archer reached over to the case and located the mysterious silver ring. The legend being passed down through the League signified the ring would be a good luck charm and would be the only thing to destroy the dragon. Whether the legends were true, Merlyn would find out in due time.

"Yes, and when I find you, the Dragon might not be a concern for you," Savage said. "The ring might be able to protect you from….."

The Dark Archer fired a barrage of several more arrows into Savage. The man lingered past any single cockroach ever.

"You amuse me," Merlyn said. "But, you should know, there's nothing I won't do to protect this city. And you'd wipe out half of humanity without the lack of foresight like the Neanderthal you are. These many years have passed and you still haven't gone beyond being enthralled with fire."

One more arrow for good measure.

"I'm sure the vigilante and the dragon will both pick up whatever pieces I've left," Merlyn said. He kneeled down by Savage's side. "It's a pity for you I'll be long gone by the time it will do you any good."

Savage continued to grumble and grimace, having been pinned down to the ground with an extremely violent assault by Merlyn. The arrows piercing through his wrists prompted a riding feeling of agony going through him.

He came so close and he lead another man, a man who didn't know what to do with the object, to the object. Savage reached over his back and ripped the arrows from his chest and back. The man's agony passed over his body. The blood splattered to the ground, before the wounds on his chest healed.

"This isn't over, Archer, not by a long shot."

Savage made his way out into the night, breaking through the window. He looked around on his hands and knees, frowning. So close, but yet so far.

* * *

"So, I suppose the fate of Ares is in the hands of the other gods and goddesses," Diana said. She turned around to face Harry. "I'm sorry I couldn't stick around, but I have to see this through to the very end."

"Well, it isn't like it's goodbye forever," Harry said. The young man closed the gap between himself and the Amazon Princess. "We will meet again Diana."

"Yes," Diana said. "It's good to see you again….it's always good to see you."

Diana waited for a moment, considering what she wanted to do next. Without another word, Diana wrapped her arms around Harry and gave him a blistering kiss. The two of them exchanged a passionate goodbye, with a promise with the two of them to meet up again sometime in the future.

"I'm really sorry, I had to go," Diana said. She smiled and looked at Harry. "But, I swear, if I stay for another second longer, I might not ever want to leave."

"It'd be a pity, if you didn't want to leave," Harry said. He walked around her, wrapping his arms around her. He briefly kissed her on the side of the neck.

Diana almost jumped up and gave Harry a look of mock loathing. The Amazon turned towards him. With a swift movement, Diana pressed her hands on Harry's chest and smiled.

"You are not making it any easier on me, you know," Diana said. She leaned closer towards Harry and nipped his lips one more time.

"Fair travels, princess," Harry said. "And remember, Ares is a necessity."

"Yes, one cannot appreciate the tranquility of peace without being subjected to the horrors of war," Diana said. She leaned closer towards Harry, clasping him hand around hers. "But, I think we can both agree Ares takes his license to be a war criminal a bit too far."

"I certainly don't disagree," Harry said. He leaned towards Diana, pressing his lips against hers one more time. "Farewell, and good luck, princess."

"Thank you," Diana said. Her bright blue eyes met Harry's green eyes. "And I really have to go now."

Harry smiled, almost as if Diana looked for excuses to linger a bit longer. With a quick movement, the Amazon passed through the portal, to give evidence of Ares's transgressions against humanity which went beyond the necessity of war.

Turning around, Harry returned to the series of convoluted calculations he had been working on over the past several hours.

"So, Indy, do you think we've got an exact point?"

"Yes," Indy said. "I can state with one hundred and ten percent probability this is the exact date and time where Eobard Thawne will be showing up in the future."

"Excellent," Harry said. He moved over to the computer and started to type up a message.

No sooner did Harry hit send, he could see someone brushing past the entrance of his lab. Harry didn't even blink, he didn't even turn around.

"Hello, Danica."

"Um, hey, Harry," Danica said. She blinked suddenly when Harry turned around to face her. "I'm sorry to be a bother…and I know you've got a billion different problems, and one them isn't the fact I don't have my Legion ring, but….well, not having my Legion ring and Thawne having the Legion ring is a problem for me so….."

Harry cut off her motor mouth by wrapping his arms around Danica's waist and kissing the ever living daylight out of her. Danica closed her eyes and experienced pure pleasure of Harry's kiss gave her.

"Thanks I needed….well I needed something to shock me to life….just what are you doing?"

"Sending myself a message," Harry said. "I told you, I'm the one who created the Legion ring…will create the Legion ring, so there's really no problem to be had. I'm sure if I got in close enough before Thawne jumped through time, I could have sent him to February 30th of any year."

Danica opened her mouth to protest there wasn't any such day as February 30th, but she shut her mouth completely. It really took a moment for her to get where Harry came from, but she got it.

"So, you really think you've trapped him," Danica said. "Countless Flashes, over an infinite number of worlds, weren't able to rope Thawne….countless versions of him, over an infinity number of worlds, for too long."

A long moment paused, and Harry stared at Danica.

"Right, you don't know about the multi-verse yet, guess it's a spoiler…but….I've said too much."

Harry smiled, despite her quick feet, and her quick wit, Danica did have a tendency to put her foot in her mouth at the worst times possible.

"Just wait and see…I'm sure I'll inform myself if my plan worked, and if my calculations were right….."

"Of course they were right," Indy said, the girl sounded almost insulted at the implications her well crafted calculations were anything, but correct.

Danica broke out into laughter. She upgraded herself over time and merged with some Earth girl from Smallville, Danica wanted to say her name was Chloe, but her memories were failing her at the worst possible time.

* * *

Eobard Thawne thought the Legion Ring was one of the smoothest and most efficient ways to travel through time.

"Well, looks like even though my plans failed, I picked up a nifty little souvenir."

The moment Thawne escaped through the wormhole, he saw a statue of an imposing figure with a large "S" on the chest of the suit.

 _'Ah, nostalgia.'_

At least it was more worthy of a person to pay tribute to then the Flash museum. Thawne looked around and stepped back, coming face to face with one Harry Potter, who looked none too surprised for Thawne's sudden arrival.

"How did you do it?" Thawne asked. "How did you beat me here?"

"By living my life and waiting for this day to come," Harry said. "I even left myself a reminder note to expect you. Sorry I didn't make tea and biscuits…for one, they don't make biscuits like they used to. And for another, you won't be staying so long."

Thawne tried to return back through time, but found himself hitting head long into an energy field, blocking his depature from where he stood.

"I don't understand, I….."

"I designed the Legion rings," Harry said. He ripped the ring from Thawne's hand like it was nothing. "I know how to make it work…and I also control the Speed Force now. Bonding with five different women who had the speed powers gives me this amount of levity….let's see, there's Iris, there's Whitney, there's Jessie, there's Danica, and there's Caitlin from an alternate Earth who got the Flash powers. But it's not important right now. I can make you run backwards until you age into nothingness, at super speed."

"You've mastered the Speed Force, Death, and time…is there anything you can't do?"

"Don't fan boy over me Thawne, you're not my type," Harry said. "But to answer your question, I still haven't mastered the trombone."

"You're serious aren't you?" Thawne asked. "The Flash wouldn't exist without me."

"And yet you can't exist with him or her, or…really anyone who has the Flash powers," Harry said. "You're a paradox. But my job is to fix paradoxes….there will be other Thawne's, other Reverse-Flashes, whether they be Thawne or someone else. Some of them fairly attractive women in fact, even if they need to be tamed. But I'll remove your immunity against the cracked timeline and watch everything play out."

Thawne's face contorted into horror right as he faded out into existence. Only Harry's ability to master time prevented further paradoxes from occurring.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	44. Chapter 44

**Chapter Forty-Four: Vanishing Act.**

* * *

Danica paced back and forth around the carpet in one of Harry's main offices. The young man watched her first in amusement and then in annoyance, when the carpet underneath her started to wear down underneath her feet. Harry took a moment to clear his throat and cause Danica to jump halfway up the air. She almost stumbled into a vase, but Harry levitated out of her way, and switched the wooden stool with a cushion, which caused Danica to fall back onto something soft.

"Wow, I forgot how fast you were," Danica said. She adjusted herself with a calm expression on her face. "Thankfully you can slow down when it really counts."

Harry's lips curled into a knowing smile and Danica blinked before she realized what she said.

"I can't believe I just pulled a Felicity," Danica said. She hung her head with Harry moving over and patting her on the side of her neck. "I'm normally quicker on my feet than that…but you can't blame me for being…a bit off tonight."

"Relax," Harry said.

Danica looked towards Harry and folded her arms underneath her chest, causing her to frown deeply.

"You know, I'm not sure how it is during this time, but when you tell someone to relax, relaxing is the furthest thing from their mind," Danica said. Harry corked his eyebrow when he looked at the Fastest Woman Alive. "It means the same thing, you know it means the same thing, but yet, you've said it anyway, because of course you did."

Harry looked towards the door and sensed something happening. He mentally counted down in his mind.

Seconds later, a loud pop of energy echoed, and a time hole opened. Danica jumped up to her feet, and saw a second Harry Potter exit through a time tunnel. Danica's lips curled into a smile. If she had to be honest, she had dreams which started like this, but this was the closest thing of reality.

"So, you got my message?" Harry asked.

"Of course I got the message," Harry said. "You did the calculations to the letter, and Indy wasn't going to mess up, either, so….I waited patiently for Thawne. I have to admit, the look on his face made the wait worth it."

"So, is this weird to you being on the other end of this conversation?" Harry asked.

"A little bit," Harry said. "And you should already know I asked future me the same exact thing the other time I went through this."

Harry looked at the high tech battle armor which his future self wore when traveling back through the annals of time.

"Nice armor design, I'm going to have to steal it," Harry said.

"And I said pretty much the same thing when we had this conversation before…only I was on the other end of the door," Harry said. "Oh, time travel, how wonderful are you?"

"Well, yes, because you know pretty much everything I'm going to say before I say it," Harry said. "And don't tell me, but you made a similar observation."

"Now, you're catching on," Harry said. "The future is interesting….I'll say about as much….and half of the fun won't be having spoilers."

Past Harry answered with a smile and future Harry opened the wormhole.

"Well, the next time I'll meet you…is the first time I'm technically meeting you," Danica said. "Unless there's something else screwy in the time stream I need to know about….but it's not like he tells anything."

Future Harry just grinned and patted Danica on the shoulder.

"Just have to keep you on your toes," Harry said. "So, until we meet again….not saying we will."

The future version of Harry Potter disappeared into the light along with Danica, just as Cassandra popped her way into the office window, dropping down. She stared at another version of Harry, retreating with the Flash. The normally stoic girl blinked and turned to Harry.

"Do, I really want to know?" Cass asked.

"Well it involves time travel," Harry said. He approached Cass and pressed closer towards her. "So, it depends on what you think."

"So, I really don't want to know," Cass dead panned.

"Well, you don't," Harry said. "And I trust you've had an interesting night."

"There's been a commotion at Edge's old manor," Cassandra said. "The most reliable sources saw someone in a hood…they think it's Artemis, but we both know it's Merlyn."

"And by the time the League investigated, he was gone," Harry said. Cassandra answered with a very swift and secure nod. "Of course, I don't blame you for what happened…."

"Nor should anyone, Merlyn is a cockroach," Nyssa said. She popped out of the shadows. "Seems like you've had a fairly productive night, beloved….our sources in Gotham City turned up dry."

Sara turned up and looked at Harry, Cassandra, and Nyssa. She smiled and approached them.

"Well, tonight's meeting is going to be like old times again," Sara said.

Nyssa smiled, like old times indeed, but she wasn't certain if it would be a good thing, or a bad thing how much it was like old times. They would have to see what happened. Still the four who helped bring the League together for a new age, putting their heads together should lead to something.

* * *

Thea recalled her last few sparring sessions with Artemis. They left her with aches and pains, but no injuries which proved to be long lasting. The Queen heiress stepped forward, an intense smile on her face.

"You better not be pulling your punches against me," Thea said. She stood with a hand on her hip.

"You're good at shooting an arrow at stationary target," Artemis said. "Even with your vision compromised, you have a good sense, but targets are always moving."

Artemis swung forward with a huge palm thrust. Thea took a second to dodge the attack, almost getting knocked over. The woman staggered back a step or two, before the breath returned to her.

Thea's eyes screwed over and she clenched her fists. She would fight her sparring partner with everything she had. Thea rushed Artemis and tried to nail her with a rapid fire amount of kicks and punches, but Artemis blocked all of them and shoved Thea back against the wall.

Thea bounced back against the wall, the wind having been knocked out of her. The woman rushed Artemis and tried to nail her with a nice kick, but Artemis blocked the attack and grabbed Thea's ankle. Thea flipped down onto the ground.

"Adequate, but you're going to have to do better than that," Artemis said. She offered Thea a hand to pull her back to a standing position.

"Yes, I've noticed," Thea said.

"Then if you've noticed, then attack me again," Artemis said.

Accepting the invitation, Artemis charged Thea. The archer tried to swing a punch towards Thea, but Thea dodged the attack. The two of them continued to go hand to hand with each other. Artemis blocked Thea's punch and pushed her against the wall.

"I'm not holding back," Artemis said, pressing herself against Thea.

If she was this sloppy, her father would break her arm to prove a point. Artemis wasn't a sadist though, she released Thea's arm. Thea stepped back and tried to drill Artemis with a running punch. Artemis flipped over Thea's head and landed on her feet. The archer grabbed Thea in a move, pushing her arm behind her back.

"Five ways an opponent can break your arm from this point," Artemis said. She cranked back on Thea's shoulder. "And there are five different ways for you to counter….if you think you're up to countering."

Artemis launched back against the door. Thea drilled Artemis with a roundhouse kick to the chest, dropping her down on her knees.

"Good, but keep your eye on the ball."

Artemis grabbed Thea's ankle and flipped her down. Artemis pinned Thea's arms over her chest and pushed her down onto the ground.

"How did you get so good?" Thea asked.

"Years of practice, and falling on your ass and finding new ways back up," Artemis said. She leaned closer towards Thea, so only the two of them could hear each other. "Oh, and…..my father was a real bastard who demanded perfection."

Artemis shifted her weight off of Thea. Turning around the archer saw Harry Potter standing in the doorway.

"So, how long have you been standing there and watching?" Thea asked. She didn't want to say anything, but she was curious.

"Long enough," Harry said. "Patience, you'll be ready when you're ready."

Harry stepped into the center of the room. Thea wondered if she was going to spar with him. Harry waved his hand, levitating her bow, arrow, and quiver in front of her. Thea took it in her hands.

"Attack me," Harry said.

"With these?" Thea asked. "I've never….I've never shot an arrow at a person before."

"Well, if you ever go out there, you're going to have to, and you're going to be quick about it," Harry said. "So, attack me."

Thea shrugged, thinking Harry might be a little bit out of his mind. Regardless, she loaded up an arrow and fired it at Harry.

The second the arrow passed through the air, Harry caught it in his hand. Thea's eyes widened when Harry held the arrow in his hand casually. Harry dropped it to the ground.

"One of the most prominent lessons you can ever learn is never to put your eggs in one basket," Harry said. He leaned towards Thea, smiling at her. "Attack me again…one more time."

Thea started to launch a barrage of arrows towards Harry. The arrows soured through the air at Harry, but he blocked them one more time. The arrows hovered and hit the target on the wall, without Harry looking at them.

"You need to be faster than your enemy, Thea," Harry said.

"You mean I need to be faster than magic," Thea said.

The Queen heiress looked at Harry. His hands were quicker than the eye. She wondered if his fast hands applied to other things, but Thea shook her head. The last thing she wanted to do was lose her focus.

"One more time."

* * *

Cassandra Cain's intense look hovered over a set of blueprints. Her finger traced a pattern over the edge of the map of Starling City, with several locations marked. The assassin marked some of them with Red "Xs" and others with green checks.

"And I know the look on your face, you're up to something."

Sara approached Cassandra. The woman stood up about a half of a step.

"We've been working on this plan for several months," Cass said. "For each target Artemis has taken out, they grow even more restless."

Sara smiled, they had done a lot of work, had some setbacks, but for the most part, they have done a pretty good job.

"The most prominent name on the list continues to elude us," Sara said.

"It's personal for you, and it's personal for me," Cass said. "But, it shouldn't be."

Sara knew she had to plead with Harry to be a part of this particular mission. In some ways, Sara found herself really glad she had been shipwrecked because otherwise she wouldn't have gotten the opportunities she had.

"Yes, life is funny like that," Cass said.

"You really knew what I was thinking about?" Sara asked. "Am I too transparent?"

Cass shook her head but tried to establish a point of where Merlyn was likely to be.

"Harry puts a bunch of high tech equipment in space, we have a high tech alien computer, and we can't find one man," Sara said.

A blipping sound resounded over the computer. Sara sprung up to her feet with grace and walked over the table.

"I guess it heard you," Cass said.

Cass followed behind Sara with a little more grace. The computer picked up something, the satellites above them picked up something, but whether it was the thing they wanted, time could only tell.

Sara bent over the computer, looking over the information. Confusion reigned supreme on the face of the younger Lance sister as she tried to read the information.

"What is it?" Cass asked.

"I don't know," Sara said. "Maybe it's a false….."

The computer started to beep again, causing Sara's words to be lost in translation. The young blonde folded her arms and waited for the machine to start running through. The machine kept beeping over and over again, with Sara wondering what it was communicating.

"Oh, I see."

Cass hated when people talked vaguely like Sara did. Granted, she could read them most of the time, but it didn't make her hate the vague words people gave any less.

"There's a private jet flying in….it's flying from the other end of the world," Sara said. She started to punch up more information on the computer.

Barbara Gordon she wasn't, but Sara knew her way around computers well enough to figure out what they were dealing with.

"Merlyn is coming into town, he'll be arriving in about twelve hours…at about noon tomorrow," Sara said. She started to punch up some information.

Sure enough, the camera feed on the plane showed Merlyn in the background. He wore a ring on his feeling.

"Some kind of good luck charm?" Sara asked. Cass's eyes widened for a brief second, and Sara noticed the look of discontent on her friend's face. "What is it, Cass?"

"It's the mark, I thought it was only a legend," Cass said. "It's a cursed ring….it's said to bring the wearer protection against the Dragon."

"He thinks he can protect himself against Harry," Sara said. "But it doesn't protect him against anyone else."

Cass took a moment to think about it and shook her head. Merlyn overlooked one little flaw in the plan.

"I'm going to monitor his headquarters," Cass said. "You tell Harry what you've learned….and….."

"I will inform you if there are any further developments," Indy said. "And for the record, there is a forty three point six chance probability this plane is not heading to Starling City."

"If we could get a more precise location, we can shoot it out of the sky," Cass said.

"If Merlyn was just on it, I'd agree," Sara said. "But there are other people on the plane…some of them might not even be aware of how dangerous Merlyn is, or what he's truly capable of."

* * *

"He has some kind of ring…which Cassandra thinks is a good luck charm, it can protect him against you," Sara said.

Harry leaned back against his desk and smiled when he looked at Sara.

"So, he's found the Dragon Slayer," Harry said. Sara stared at Harry for a long few seconds, her mouth open, but she nodded, with a non-committal type shrug. "I have to admit, I hoped for a more original name for something which had the potential to destroy me."

"Wait, I thought it was only…."

Harry sprung up to his feet and wrapped his arms around Sara, pulling her into a tight hug and then he kissed the daylights out of her.

"Focus, Sara," Harry said. "Remember what I told you about magical artifacts and trinkets?"

"They're…they're pretty unreliable," Sara said. Harry placed his arm around Sara and held the girl tight towards her. "But, what if it's true?"

"I'm sure it's the intention of the person who created it," Harry said. "But intentions rarely go as they should have gone magic wise."

Sara blinked for a minute and began to see the light. Harry leaned closer towards her and trailed a series of kisses down her jawline.

"Don't take this personally, Sara, but you're taking this too personally," Harry said. He started to kiss down the neck and her side.

"Merlyn….."

"Now he has the ring, he'll come to me," Harry said. "He must have flown off to get something else…there must be something else he thinks can stop me in my tracks."

Sara draped over Harry's lap, her legs wrapped around him. His hand brushed against her thigh.

"Your new toy says he'll arrive in the next twelve hours," Sara said. She allowed a moan to come from the back of her throat when Harry licked her behind the ear. "Give or take….the math….."

Harry smiled and stopped Sara in her tracks.

"Indy's always key on with her calculations, but sometimes, human error prevents her from being exact," Harry said. He slipped his hand down Sara's pants and caused her to gasp. "And we have some time to kill before she arrives."

"Felicity?" Sara asked.

"Yes, I invited her into my private office this morning for a performance evaluation review," Harry said. "And she seems pretty eager to please."

"She'd look good on her knees," Sara said. "Or on her back….maybe on her desk, with her cute ass sticking up…."

Harry pushed Sara back onto the desk and started to kiss her on the side of her neck. He unbuttoned her shirt, revealing her perky breasts.

"You've been giving this a lot of thought, haven't you?" Harry asked.

Sara smiled, but the sounds of footsteps caused her to tense up.

 _'Right on schedule, I knew you'd be early.'_

Felicity opened the office door and started to talk.

"I'd figure I'd come by early, so we can get this start….." Felicity said. She stopped, seeing Harry leaning over a pretty young blonde on the desk, about ready to devour her panties. "Um…guess this teaches me to show up way too early….I'll…..well I'll be back in an hour…when you've…um climaxed…finished….reached the peak…well when you're done."

Sara slipped off of the desk and made her way behind Felicity and blocked her door, while wrapping her arms around her.

"No, you're going to stay," Sara said. "You've been a naughty girl who deserves to be punished for….walking into her boss's office without knocking."

Felicity's nipples hardened more than they should, and she could feel the woman's hands on her stomach, dancing closely to her center.

Sara watched Felicity in to the office, without another word.

"You interrupted something," Harry said with a smile.

Felicity noticed the bulge in Harry's trousers and her mouth started to water. She almost slapped herself, the need to focus increasing.

"Yes….I….I'm so sorry….I didn't mean to be a prick."

"Well, you haven't seen a prick yet, a real prick," Sara said.

Felicity felt the other blonde lick behind her ear lobe. She wasn't really into girls, really, mostly, for the most part. Okay, maybe a little bit, okay maybe a lot, she did experiment in college, but…she was still mostly straight.

Okay, maybe about forty percent bi…another lick behind her ear, no fifty percent.

"Ms. Smoak, I would like you to get an oral presentation," Harry said.

Felicity found the other girl guide her to her knees.

"I'm pretty sure this isn't professional," Felicity said.

"You did sign a contract," Sara said. "You didn't really read the fine print, did you?"

Felicity was pretty sure a contract like she signed wouldn't hold up in a court of the law. She was too horny to care.

"Oh, and I'm Sara by the way, and I'll be fucking you in the ass later, while Harry takes your pussy."

* * *

The things Harry Potter feared could be counted on one hand and the person who counted them still could have fingers left over to spare. Harry looked over his shoulder and Sara, Nyssa, Cass, and Artemis all followed him on all sides.

"You didn't think we would let you have all of the fun, did you?" Artemis asked.

"Given you've been with me pretty much every step of the way, I didn't think so," Harry said.

He knocked on the door and caused it to swing open without ease. The group spread out, searching the bottom floor of the building. The moment they spotted Merlyn, they would take him out.

Harry agreed to allow Cassandra to have a couple of good shots at him, but Sara demanded some revenge as well. And Nyssa wanted to get a piece of Merlyn away.

It really sucked when a bunch of angry women wanted a piece of you and not for the good reason. And speaking of women, Harry ran face to face with Lady Shiva.

"I'd figured you'd show up," Harry said. "You want Merlyn….well there's a line."

"I don't doubt," Shiva said.

A figure stepped into the shadows, dressed in the attire of the League of Assassins. Shiva turned around and grabbed the figure by the throat and pulled him out of the shadows, before forcing him down to his knees.

"You might wear the attire of the Dark Archer, but don't insult my intelligence and say you are him," Shiva said. The sharp blade brushed against the man's throat, forcing him to look up.

"Merlyn…has already left…he's moved up the time table….it will happen tonight."

Harry thought Merlyn really became desperate….or perhaps he was going to forego subtly. Or maybe it was a mystical ring messing with his mind. Harry didn't tell, but he knew this flunky was of no use.

He stabbed a sword through the man's chest and knocked him out of the window.

"Excessive," Shiva said. "But, I'll allow it."

Harry barely heard her words, he knew a storm brewed tonight, but Merlyn would be put under ground.

"Sara, Cass, Nyssa, Artemis, he's not here….but I have a good idea where he is."

Harry tried not to say he hoped he knew, because sounding indecisive was not a good way to put the best foot forward in a situation like this.

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter Forty-Five: Midnight Showdown.**

* * *

 ****Vandal Savage walked out of the shadows. Despite his differences with Merlyn, Savage anticipated what would come next. He could always wait to see if Merlyn's plan failed out. If it failed, well Merlyn was taken care of anyway and he proved to be a pretender to the throne. If it succeeded, Savage would simply snap his neck. Merlyn looked to become arrogant and forgot who helped him reach this point. Savage figured it was high time for a reminder regarding what brought him to this point in his grand scheme.

Ares, Edge, all of their allies had been picked off one at a time. All of these men, dangerous as they may have been at times, fell. Savage remained standing tall like he had throughout history. He had seen civilizations rise from the ashes and collapse underneath the weight of their own hubris. Civilizations far greater than the one standing before him at this present time.

The snaps of time passed on an hour glass.

"Well, here I thought I'd be looking for Merlyn, but running into you is just fine."

Savage's neck craned up and the man almost had to laugh. The hooded vigilante dropped down on the ground, staring him down. Savage cracked his neck and looked almost amused. He wasn't terrified at the very least by this woman in the hood.

"I'm amused you thought you could pose a challenge to me," Savage said, after a long moment of thought. He cracked his knuckles and stared her down. "But, surely, you should know who leads this dance."

The archer fired a barrage of arrows. Savage blocked the arrows before they could even come close to hitting him. The crazed caveman rushed the archer and went for a huge punch. She dodged out of the way, flipped behind him, and nailed him with an arrow right between the shoulder blades."

"Excellent reflexes," Savage said, reaching behind him to catch a second arrow before it pierced him. He threw it back towards her abdomen. The archer avoided it.

Savage rushed her, hands extended, but the archer moved and Savage hit the wall. Savage turned around, casually picking the arrow out of the back of his neck.

Another arrow arched over the top of his head. Savage almost chortled at the fact the arrow missed, until the arrow sliced a rope. Several large barrels came down. Savage dodged the barrels, before lifting one up over his head. The caveman hurled the barrel at his adversary.

Artemis dodged and the barrel cracked open. She rushed her adversary, but Savage caught her by the ankle in mid air and swung her down against the wall. The wind knocked completely out of Artemis's body. Artemis closed her eyes and struggled against Savage's grip when she tried to break out.

"You've been excellent, I'll give you credit where credit is due," Savage said. He leaned down and forced Artemis to a standing position, before slinging her against the wall. "But did you really hope you could defeat me?"

Artemis avoided having her lungs used as a soccer ball. The woman reloaded her arrow and started to fire over the top of her head. The arrow pierced a rope, forcing Savage to dodge another bunch of barrels.

Savage smiled and reached down onto the ground, pulling a dagger out of his overcoat. He rushed towards her, trying to stab her, but Artemis blocked the dagger.

"Just wait," Artemis said, and she punted Savage several inches south of the belt.

Savage doubled over, the pain temporary, but very painful. Artemis propelled herself up over Savage's hand, before coming down with a violent curb stomp, sending him crashing face first into the ground.

Artemis staggered back against the wall, running her hand over her chest.

"Good effort, but not quite enough to keep me down," Savage said. The man pushed himself to a three point stance, but Artemis fired an arrow at his hand, pinning him to the ground.

"Not enough, you say?" Artemis asked. "I disagree."

A rumbling could be heard beneath them, and Artemis hoped it was a really large truck running them over.

"It's already started," Savage said. "Some things you can't avoid."

"Like death for instance."

Savage ripped the arrow out of his hand and came face to face with the Dragon, who knocked him down to the ground with one violent punch.

"I've ran from death for longer than anyone else on this planet has been alive," Savage said. He walked up and tried to punch the Dragon.

Harry flashed out of the way and came behind Savage. He hoisted Savage up into the air.

"Without your powers, let's see how even the fight would be."

Harry waved his hand, causing the purple glow to go away with him. Savage rushed Harry, but Harry dodged it with skill. He fired a rapid series of punches to Savage's back. Savage bent down and picked up a huge piece of two by four, before swinging it like an oversized club at Harry's face.

Avoiding two smacks, Harry broke the board with a kick, causing it to splinter into Savage's face. He used Savage's momentum to be flipped into the ground. He reached into his hand and launched a fire bomb grenade, which caused the flames to surround Savage, and the explosive material on the docks.

"I did use one power….removing your immunity to death. Happy trails, Mr. Savage. We won't meet again."

Harry grabbed Artemis by the arm and teleported them out of there. Harry did see Savage go up in explosive fiery death, being sent for a long overdue chat with Harry's humble servant, Death.

* * *

The Dark Archer looked at the machine and looked towards the gentlemen next to him. The man frowned, his hands shaking, sweat dripping down his face, the whole nine yards.

"This entire plan….I don't think we should go through with it," the man said. Merlyn raised his eyebrow at the stammering man. "I mean, it's nothing more than pure madness….we shouldn't….we shouldn't….."

"The test run worked well," the Dark Archer said. "I can't wait three years or five years, and wait for the Dragon to find me. I can only run from him for so long."

After tonight, the Dark Archer would be done running. He lost many of his good backers. If he was going to go down, at least Malcolm Merlyn would go down, saving this city.

"I delayed them as much as I could by setting up a false trail," the Dark Archer said. He turned to the gentlemen who protested. "I can ill afford wait no more….and…"

The Archer tensed up when he heard something. They couldn't have found him, not this soon. Regardless, he looked towards the gentlemen, who stepped in front of the Earthquake machine.

"I won't let you do it."

Merlyn took a moment to survey the tunnel, yes someone was coming. Whether it was uniformed officers to survey the destruction or League of Assassins members to take their pound of flesh on him, Merlyn didn't know. Regardless, the man turned to the gentlemen.

"You have ten seconds to step away from the machine."

The gentlemen refused to be steadfast. He looked at the Archer, without fear, but with a lot of internal fear. The man's heart almost gave out.

The Dark Archer fired three arrows at the man, causing him to slump over the machine. The archer bent down on the ground, hoisting the gentlemen up off of the ground and hurling him off to one side like no more than a piece of trash. The archer leaned down, hoping his point had been proven.

"You should have listened to me."

The Dark Archer kicked his adversary in the chest extremely hard, knocking the wind completely out of him.

"Step away from the machine, Merlyn."

The Dark Archer turned around and noticed Lady Shiva standing next to him.

"I remember when you were scared, begging Ra's Al Ghul to teach you the ways of the League…and you have taken those ways and those lessons the wrong way."

"They call you the deadliest woman in the world," the Dark Archer said. "But, I'm unconvinced you're a match for me."

With one quick movement, Lady Shiva rushed in and nailed Merlyn, causing him to land on the ground.

"The only reason I crushed you underneath my heal like the cockroach you are, is because it would deny my daughter a chance of revenge," Lady Shiva said. She reached down and grabbed Merlyn, forcing him to look at her. "And she and her associates will be coming, and they will be less kind than I am."

"Interesting…but I am willing to die for my cause," Merlyn said. "After all I've been through, the disruptive elements of this city will be purged…..isn't it what the League is about? To prune some destructive elements to make a better world?"

"You are mistaken," Shiva said.

The Earthquake machine next to them started to rumble. Shiva's eyes widened when she looked down at Merlyn, and anger flooded through those eyes.

"What did you do?"

Merlyn took advantage of her distraction by shooting a sewage pipe. The contents of the pipe started to spray out in every direction, which caused Shiva to curse. Merlyn slipped down the tunnel, avoiding any kind of vengeance.

He could have buried himself alive, but Merlyn thought it was worth it to say he managed to slip past Lady Shiva. Very few men have gotten the better of her. In fact, Merlyn thought no men in living memory have done so.

A figure appeared next to Shiva with a pop, wrapping his arm around her waist and teleporting her to a safe location, at least safer than the city. Shiva turned to the Dragon.

"He managed to slip away."

"I know," Harry said. "But, he won't get far, not this time, not when I can track his every move."

As annoying as the Dark Archer happened to be, Harry could see a far more serious problem at hand.

* * *

Kara wanted to do something which could save the world. Well, while the world wasn't at stake, she could do something to save this city.

A large building was about ready to crumble. Kara shot through the windows of the building, scooping up the scared people who had been trapped inside the building. Holding her head down, Kara trafficked them outside of the building.

The people cheered, but Kara's job wasn't done, not yet. She walked over and bent down towards a crack which formed. She placed her hands on the crack and summoned all of her energy. Preventing the city from ripping in half, Kara sealed the crack.

She couldn't hold it together forever. Kara used her ice breath to temporarily seal a crack in the side walk. Turning around on her shoulder, Kara flew off into the other direction. She returned with a canister full of pavement tar. Tipping it over carefully over the crack, Kara backed up and rose to her fullest lung capacity.

The super breath caused the tar to freeze, but Kara realized how redundant this might have been.

 _'It's not over, oh you've got to be kidding me!'_

The tremors stopped, almost like some kind of angel of vengeance heard Kara. Furthest thing from the angel in her mind, as Faora rose up out of the ground, holding the Earthquake device in her hand. She disabled it and ripped it out of the ground.

"Would you like to do the honors, hero?" Faora asked.

Kara allowed a smile to pass over her lips, at being called a hero, even if she was almost certain Faora did so in a sarcastic manner. Faora tossed the Earthquake machine in the air, and Kara used her heat vision to utterly destroy the device.

Not wanting to bask in the fruits of her victory for too long, Kara flew back around the city, to check to see if anyone had been trapped inside the building. The Girl of Steel broke open the door, and three scared children huddled.

"I don't know where my mother is," one of the children said.

A woman rushed down the streets, looking rather terrified. Kara scooped up the woman's children in her arms and trafficked them far towards them.

"Thank you!"

Kara wasn't going to lie, being thanked for her heroics put a huge smile on her face. A little bit of appreciation did in fact go a long way.

Unfortunately, Kara's smile darkened a shade a few seconds later when the ground beneath them began to rumble one more time. The Girl of Steel's eyes widened for a brief second. One statement passed through her mouth.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Kara yelled.

"He must have had a backup," Faora said. She listened for the source of the rumblings and zeroed in, making her way underneath the ground.

Kara rushed over and trafficked some people out of the way. One would think they would have moved out of the way, but she could understand how people would freeze up in a situation like this.

The rumblings stopped and Faora removed the Earthquake machine out of the ground. She trafficked it over to them and hurled it in the air, which allowed Kara to once again take it out with her heat vision. The people on the ground cheered at the spectacular destruction.

"For the record, we can do this all night," Faora said, not sure if anyone could hear her.

Kara almost had to laugh, but she settled for a nice smile. The Girl of Steel dropped on the ground, listening for the sounds or sensations for any other Earthquakes.

"I think we're out of the woods, "Kara said. Faora's gaze passed over Kara's face and Kara blinked. "Yes, I know…don't say it…"

A sound of some hoods trying to loot one of the stores caught Kara's attention. The Kryptonian survivor threw her hands into the air.

"Seriously?"

Kara flew towards them. The hoods turned to them, one unloading an entire barrage of bullets at her. The bullets didn't effect Kara. Kara lifted the goons off of the ground and hurled them like feathers. She flew off in the speed of light, and tangled them up with ropes.

"It's true, some people are too stupid to live," Faora said. Kara gave her a side long look. "Which is why Krypton died…it's a universal problem really."

* * *

Malcolm Merlyn watched his plans go up in smoke, almost literally. His primary Earthquake device and the backup all had been destroyed.

A figure moved in the shadows, stalking his every single move.

"Well, the daughter of Lady Shiva."

Merlyn fired two arrows, but Cassandra dodged the attacks. Cassandra Cain rushed Merlyn and tried to punch him, but he avoided the punches. He dipped behind Cassandra, grabbing her around the neck, and forcing her down to the ground. Merlyn tried to kick Cassandra, but Cassandra took Merlyn's legs out from underneath him.

Cassandra grabbed Merlyn and pushed him against the wall. The woman started to pummel him with a series of rapid fire punches and kicks, doubling him over against the wall.

"You robbed me of my vengeance, you will pay."

Merlyn pushed her off and tried to load his arrow up, only to find a sonic device rolled onto the ground. The device emitted a sonic charge which forced Merlyn to drop down to his knees.

A figure dressed in black came down and nailed Merlyn hard in the ribs. Merlyn blocked the second attack, grabbed the figure. He shoved her back and tried to nail an arrow to her stomach. She ducked and rolled out of the attack.

Merlyn stood. Cassandra and Sara both looked at each other, standing on one side of him.

"Neither of you can defeat me….."

"We don't have to," Sara said. Sara rushed in, but Merlyn dodged. She engaged him in some hand to hand combat.

Cassandra caught Merlyn from behind, stabbing him in the back of the leg. Merlyn winced in agony, but dropped down. He armed himself with an arrow and shot it at the gargoyle. The arrow had an explosive fluid on it, which caused the concrete to explode, nearly showering them.

Merlyn shot a grapnel down and repelled down to another rooftop. Despite being on one good leg, Merlyn thought he could walk out the pain.

The two of them would be right behind him. Merlyn turned around and noticed him standing in the moonlight.

"Don't move," Merlyn said, raising his hand. "See the ring on my finger….it can take you out."

"So says the legend."

Merlyn loaded an arrow with his hand and fired it. The young man took an arrow right in the chest, causing him fly back against the wall.

"It works, it really does work," Merlyn said. Merlyn fired three more arrows at the Dragon, and stepped towards him, with a limp. "So, any last words?"

The Dragon faded into mist, causing the arrows to drop down onto the ground. Merlyn looked up and turned around, to see the Dragon grab him around the neck from behind. A rapid fire punch caught Merlyn in the stomach, the energy blast knocking the wind out of him.

Merlyn looked at his finger, to realize the ring he wore had been removed.

"Nice piece of jewelry….but not what you thought."

The ring melted in the dragon's hand. Merlyn held his head up.

"I don't think you understand what I'm doing here," Merlyn said. "I'm trying to save this city."

"Well, we're at a conflict there," Harry said. "Because from where I'm standing, you've doomed the city."

"You're a member of the League of Assassins…..you know how this worked….cities must be ripped out from the inside, before they can be reborn anew."

"No, I'm not a member of the League of Assassins," Harry said, pulling down his hood to reveal his face. "I am the League of Assassins."

"Harry Potter," Merlyn said.

"Very good, but I know you suspected," Harry said.

"It explains a lot, "Merlyn said. "So, are you going to kill me?"

"No," Harry said. "They are."

Sara and Cassandra dropped down from behind Merlyn. Cassandra picked up Merlyn's bow and quiver ,which had been dropped in the battle. She loaded an arrow and shot one perfect killshot to the chest taking him down. Sara rushed over and stabbed Merlyn in the chest, causing him to fall back over the ledge of the building.

He landed down on the ground, the man's neck snapping down when he fell.

"It's done," Sara said. "He's dead."

Sara looked at Harry with a question in his eyes.

"Consider it a mercy killing," Harry said.

"I consider it justice," Nyssa said, turning up. "And I'm upset I didn't get a shot…but you two girls did it with such style, I didn't want to interrupt."

Sara finally found herself at peace. The city had been saved for now.

"And evidence regarding what Merlyn did will be placed in the hands of the proper authorities," Harry said.

"So, he won't be made into some kind of White Knight after death," Sara said.

A few people lingered on the list, but without any kind of strong leadership, it was like shooting fish in a barrel.

* * *

Thea looked over the newspaper, reading about Malcolm Merlyn, what he did, and his death. Artemis walked into the room, looking at Thea.

"So, he's gone," Thea said. "He's really gone."

"Yes, he's really gone, trust me, we did find the body," Artemis said. "And Harry has a knack of knowing when people are faking it."

Thea shook her head, with a smile on her face. Regardless, the young woman pulled herself up to a standing position and walked off to start her training.

"He was found with an arrow shot in him," Thea said. "So….you did the kill shot?"

"Wish I could….I had to settle getting my ass kicked by some glorified caveman last night," Artemis said. She smiled and looked at her. "Sara and Cass…they were the ones who did the deed."

"Well, they deserve it….are you going to tell people Sara is…well not dead?" Thea asked.

"Soon enough."

Harry showed up and Thea almost blinked.

"You didn't jump in the air," Harry said. "Better than a lot of girls."

"Guess, I am," Thea said. It was hard not to sound smug when Harry gave her a compliment like it.

"Just don't let the compliment get to your head," Artemis said. She patted Thea on the shoulder. "Or I'm going to have to deflate it."

"Don't worry," Thea said. "You keep me humble enough."

Thea sighed and decided to address the very obvious elephant in the room.

"So, what are we going to do about Oliver?" Thea asked. "He's just lingering out there…..now Merlyn's gone…."

"Don't worry, Thea," Harry said. "He'll find his way back….but, he's got to make his own journey, like you do."

Thea understood the meaning and agreed. The assurance her brother was safe, even if stranded on the outside world reassured her.

"And now, it's time for your training."

Thea wondered what fresh tortures awaited her today.

* * *

 **To Be Concluded in the Epilogue.**


	46. Chapter 46

**Five Years Later:**

* * *

 ****Harry Potter stood a savior and a man who was respected by many, feared by several others, but mostly respected. Not because of some event which happened to be out of his control, but rather, some event which was completely in his control. Sara and Nyssa joined him.

"A lot can happen in five years," Sara said.

"And very few people can effortlessly manipulate both sides of the coin to their advantage," Nyssa said. She leaned in towards Harry, taking one of his arm. "And yet, you've had, both the darkness and the light…."

"Someone needs to keep both sides in check," Sara said. "And now Harry Potter….the man who saved Starling….Star City….it's still hard to wrap my tongue around the change, after all of this time."

"Well, thankfully you are adept at wrapping your tongue around other things," Nyssa said with a cheeky smile on her face. "And now we are in a new state where the city is as clean as it has ever been crime rise….maybe because a lot of people are afraid to shoplift a candy bar without getting an arrow in their throat."

Artemis turned up and took a step back for a brief second. She shook her head, when looking at Nyssa, Sara, and Harry.

"I'm not bad where I terrify people….I'm not….."

"No, you're not, but I am."

Thea stepped into the room and joined the entire group. She crossed the room without fear and planted a kiss on Harry's lips. She gave both of the older girls a smug smile, pretty much asking them if they were going to do anything about it.

"Yes, you could get pretty brutal out there," Harry said. "Good thing I'm here to keep you in check."

"Yes, good thing," Thea said. She took a momentary moment to shudder when Harry looked at her. She counted down the days until she was old enough. When it happened, Thea's expectations had bene equal parts met and exceeded. "The League didn't clean up the corruption in this city with being nice."

"There's always going to be someone who pops up," Artemis said.

The fact of the matter happened to be someone always wished to disrupt the apple cart, disrupt the peace which had bene created. Harry hated it as much as pretty much anyone else, but they would have to deal with it.

"Today is the day, isn't it?" Thea asked. "I heard the rumblings…..Oliver Queen is alive."

Thea knew this was one promise Harry kept.

"Might have come back sooner, but he wanted to achieve his own path," Nyssa said. "Well, good for him, we can't guide him every step of the way. And I'm sure he made his share of enemies along the way."

Thea wanted to protest Ollie never would do anything along those lines. She stopped and thought about it for about two seconds. Thea realized her brother would do something like this pretty much all day and every day. Still she did look forward to see him again.

"It won't be the same, he won't be the same as how he left," Harry said.

"Well, none of us are the same after five years," Thea said.

Sara smiled and leaned forward to plant a brief kiss on the side of Thea's head. She retracted her movement after a brief second.

"Girl does have a point," Sara said, her smile widening.

"There won't be any bitterness, with you and….Laurel, will there?" Thea asked. "I know neither of you parted on….."

"We've moved on," Sara said. "So, there's no reason to be bitter…..we had the best therapy imaginable."

"Yes, I can imagine it," Thea said. "I experienced it."

Thea turned outside of the office of the Mayor of Star City which they currently resided. She looked into a city, which looked rather peaceful right now. Most certainly a far cry from the den of corruption, but peace seldom last forever.

"Enjoy the moment," Harry said, placing his hands on Thea's shoulders.

Thea smiled, she enjoyed every moment. The city didn't fail her anymore and people seldom failed this city.

* * *

Oliver Queen returned to his city after several long years away. The young man took a half of a step forward and it was odd….he didn't expect to return to this. Given the nature of the list and his father's dying words, he expected to return to a city worse off than ever before.

"Welcome back, Ollie."

Thea waited for him, dressed up, and Oliver took a step back.

"Speedy….wow…it's been….."

"Yes, I know," Thea said. "When you left, I was an irresponsible teenager, but now you're back, I've turned into a somewhat responsible adult. And the city has changed a lot, not at least which the name….and there's….just a lot different."

"How are things at the company?" Oliver asked. "You know, at Queen….."

"Well, I'm only on as a consultant, because the company is under new management," Thea said. Oliver looked like a fish out of water for a second. "Did you know the company was bleeding money and Mom did her best to plug the holes, but she needed some help? So, she sold out to a triumvirate of investors…..I'm really not suppose to tell you this information, but since you're my brother, I guess I can…he did give me permission if you wanted to know."

"He?" Oliver asked.

"Harry Potter, the man who helped rebuild Starling…well now, Star City," Thea said. "He joined forces with Karen Starr from Metropolis and Helena Wayne from Gotham City…..and bought the company, revamped it, and now it's making so much money, I think I can buy the gold boat I always wanted."

"I thought you got over the gold boat thing after you were eight," Oliver said.

"Welcome back, Mr. Queen."

Oliver turned around, almost getting whiplash. He turned around into a figure in a green hood and patching pants, with a quiver over her shoulder and a bow over her shoulder.

"You need not worry about the list your father left, because I have taken care of."

Oliver took a step back for a moment and shook his head.

"You can't have…are you…how did you….."

The hooded figure almost craned her neck. Thea barely avoided breaking into laughter at the look on Oliver's face. It was so priceless.

"Just think about it long and hard, and it will come to you," the figure in the hood said. "If we had waited for the time where you could find your way back home, things would have gotten far worse….so we took advantage and saved this city."

"You can't have taken care of all of them."

"I did," the archer said. She dropped a tablet at Oliver's feet. "All the names on the list, linked with their cause of death, or an article regarding their imprisonment, depending on each and every case."

Oliver blinked for a second.

"Just who are you?"

"The press fancies calling me the Green Arrow."

Oliver mouthed the words "Green Arrow" and shook his head.

"You weren't going to go on your own crusade and bring all of these people down, were you?"

Oliver found himself slapped hard and he could do nothing more than nod. He planned to get rested up and then when the novelty of him coming back disappeared, Oliver would strike out and save his city from the people who failed it.

"What now?" Oliver asked.

"Well, you could try and go on a vacation….maybe to a nice island getaway or something."

Oliver looked at her for a long moment, the obvious thought about how he just got back from an island misadventure hitting him extremely hard. He never had a chance to finish his statement because the hooded figure vanished into the shadows.

He would have to rethink his plans, given the list had been taken care of.

"Well, there you have it…you should really get home," Thea said. "I'd suggest a shower, because you really need it."

* * *

Harry Potter spent very little time thinking about the past, rather he thought about the future.

"And another clean and more efficient source of energy….and this one is getting steam," Caitlin said. She sounded excited about the prospect, but she frowned. "I'm honestly surprised people haven't taken more shots to try and kill you."

"Well, I have a pretty good staff to keep them away," Harry said. "More to protect them, then anyone else."

Felicity burst into the office and took a half of a step back.

"You'd think after all of these years, I'd learn to stop walking in without knocking," Felicity said. "I mean, you could have been….having sex…actually it's a pretty good chance you were….not you're some….."

Harry swooped in and kissed Felicity before she embarrassed herself any more. She stepped back in a daze.

"We would have asked you to join."

"Karen and Helena are here….urgent meeting….they want to know If Oliver is going to be a problem," Felicity said.

"I don't think he will be," Harry said. "But, we do have some other matters to deal with….keep up the good work Caitlin, you too Felicity."

Harry made his way into his private elevator.

"Can't believe he finds time to do anything, or anyone….being Mayor on top of everything else," Felicity said.

"His name is Harry Potter, what do you think?"

Felicity thought Caitlin had a pretty good point. She wondered what the future would bring.

* * *

 **The End.**


End file.
